The Prince of Tennis and The Princess of Lies
by Shia R. N
Summary: What happens when you take the world of Prince of Tennis, a strange girl and then add some psycic abilities? A ton o'fun! Ryoma's met a new rival and is faced with a new challenge. I'm putting my disclaimer here: I do not own Prince of tennis.
1. Chapter 1

"Game, set!" The words filled the spring air on the practice courts at Seishun Academy. A boy wearing a white hat lowered his racket. "Game won by Ryoma Echizen,  
6-4!" Some of his fellow seventh graders cheered and Ryoma smiled a bit as he headed up to the net. He stuck his hand out.  
"Good game," He said, but his opponent, who had been Kaoru Kaido and a fellow starter, ignored him and walked off the court. Ryoma sighed and walked off the courts himself. Some of the seventh graders, Kachiro, Horio, and Katsuo, ran over to him.  
"Good job, Ryoma!" Kachiro said immediately. Ryoma thanked him meekly,  
leaning his racket against the fencing.  
"Man," Horio started, "Kaido sure hates your guts, he has ever since you beat him when you were becoming a starter"  
"Well yeah. For a starter to be beaten by a seventh grader... And then for that same seventh grader to become a starter...!" Katsuo said, "It's definatly his pride"  
"Yeah and he's scary when he's mad!" Kachiro shivered and the other two had to agree. Ryoma just stood there and let them all talk, only half paying attention to what they were saying. Eventually he said that he had to go, grabbed his bag and waked away.

A young blonde haired girl hopped out of the back of a moving van carrying a box. She hummed to herself as she brought it into the big house that had been newly labeled 'Raiku'. She went inside and took it upstairs and into the room she had picked out three days before. She promptly plopped the box next to all of the others on the bed and went to get the last one from the truck. She brought it up and sighed in relief. A golden retriever bounded up the stairs and into her room. She pet it affectionately and rubbed it's ears.  
"What, Samson, you want to go for a walk?" She asked the dog, closing her blue eyes in delight. She could here the dogs tail thumping on the carpet and took it as a yes.  
She opened her eyes, "Good, because I need an excuse to get out of here for a while." She grabbed a leash from one of her boxes and then fixed it to Samson's collar. The dog stood up, waging is fluffy blonde tail and then they bounded down the stairs and headed for the door, "I'm taking Samson for a walk!" She hollered through the house.  
"Shia, wait," Her mother's voice called and she stopped in her tracks, "Where are you going"  
"I'm taking Samson for a walk," She said, "I thought I'd also check out my new school." She smiled, "Seishun academy."

"Dang, I lost again," Ryoma said and put the controller for his video game down,  
"This guy's serve sucks, he really shouldn't be allowed to compete." He sighed and pet his cat, Kalpin, which had been laying on his lap. Something hit the window and it rattled.  
"Huh?" Kalpin moved as Ryoma got up and walked over to the window, opening it.  
"Ryoma! Lets break a sweat before dinner!" His father's voice called up. Nanjiro Echizen had once been called 'Samurai' in tennis, but he had retired at an early age. Now he stood outside, holding the tennis ball he had lobbed at Ryoma's window, cigarette in mouth, expecting a match from his son. "Come on, I'll only play you with... one leg today." He called up.  
"I don't need a handicap," Ryoma sighed, but headed for his tennis bag, he would need his best racket to play his father anyway. He was surprised to open the bag and for it not to be there. He thought back. The fence! He had leaned it against the fence at his school. He grabbed the bag, dashed out, and hurried past his dad, "I forgot my racket." he explained as he passed and his dad chortled.  
"Excuses, excuses."

"Wow, so this is Seishun? It's huge!" Shia said happily, "Isn't this school big for it's tennis? I wanna see the courts!" A teacher walked out of the building and Shia ran over to it, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the tennis courts are"  
"Go around the school to your right and then turn left at the edge of the building.  
You can see the practice courts from there," he said, looking disapprovingly at her dog.  
"Thank you!" She said and bounded past him, Samson toppling him over as they raced to the court. She followed the teachers directions and soon she could see the courts,  
"Wow!" she whistled and then headed down there. She let go of Samson's leash for a moment and he trotted over to something. He barked to get her attention. "A racket?" She examined it, "Red... It's pretty..." She swung it a bit, "and very well made." She glanced at the fence. She could see a bucket of balls inside and the gate was unlocked. She smiled,  
"Shall we?" she asked and Samson barked in agreement as they walked in. She grabbed a tennis ball and threw it up into the air. Her serve whistled over the net and the dog jumped up to catch it on the bounce. He trotted back to her and place it at her feet, then went back over to the other side of the net. She smiled and served again.

Ryoma had stopped running as soon as his dad was out of sight and now he could see the school. His feet walked the familiar path to the courts without his thinking. As he rounded the last corner he heard the familiar twack of a racket meeting a ball. Not just any racket either, but his. He walked down to the fence and watched as a girl served the ball with tremendous speed and the dog, with equal agility, jump into the air to catch it on the bounce. Ryoma couldn't help but laugh at this spectacle and the girl looked over at him, blushing furiously.  
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't even see you there, uh... How long...?" She asked frantically.  
"Not long at all. That's an impressive trick though, with the dog." he said,  
walking in. The dog moved over to him and Ryoma let it sniff his hand before petting it's head.  
"Y-yeah, I taught him that before we moved here. Uh, do you go here"  
"Obviously"  
"Oh, oh yeah! Of coarse!" She said scratching the back of her head, embarrassed,  
"I knew that"  
"No you didn't"  
"Yeah, you're right," She sighed. "anyway, I ought to get going, I'll just put this racket back where it was"  
"You don't have to do that," Ryoma told her.  
"Huh? Of course I do, it's not mine, I'm not going to steal it!" She said,  
seemingly outraged that he had thought she would.  
"No, I meant you don't have to because you can just give it to me, it's mine." He explained and she blushed an even deeper shade of red.  
"I-I-I'm so sorry! It was just sitting there and I didn't have a racket and there were balls in here and I wanted to play and-" Ryoma cut her off abruptly.  
"It's alright, I don't really mind, you didn't intend to take it," he said and she relaxed, handing him the racket. "Actually," he said, "If you want to play tennis, I'll play with you." Her eyes lit up.  
"Really!" "Yeah," He nodded.  
"I would love that!" she smiled and Ryoma handed her back the racket, "My name is Shia by the way." She introduced.  
"I'm Ryoma," he said, moving to the opposite side of the net. He tossed her a ball.  
She smiled as she caught it and Ryoma shifted his racket to his right hand.  
"I'm very pleased to meet you," She said and tossed the ball up into the air. As she was about to hit it Ryoma got into a ready position, but the ball never crossed the net.  
It came back down out of the air and she caught it again. "Before we start..." she said and Ryoma straitened up a bit. "Why are you playing with your weak hand?" Ryoma was surprised for a moment and then smirked.  
"How could you tell I was left handed?" he asked.  
"Easy, your left hand is only slightly larger than your right hand, this means that it has more use, the muscles are harder. However, because they are so close in size one could assume that you tend to go easier on others, using your weak hand. It's really pretty simple," she finished with that same child-like smile, "Why don't you show me what you can really do?" Ryoma smirked and changed his racket to his left hand. Shia smiled and tossed the ball into the air again. It whistled over the net, faster than when she had played with the dog. Ryoma was quick though and got to it fairly easily, volleying it back over the net. Shia's eyes were alight as she ran for it, making it to the left side of the court just in time to get the ball and slam it back over. The game went on, neither really playing to their full ability, but both seemed to be mildly enjoying themselves. Eventually they stopped, both sweating slightly and out of breath. "That... Was fun..." Shia said between deep gulps of air. Ryoma just nodded and Samson barked. Shia looked over to him and then at her watch. Seven o'clock. "Dang, Mom's gonna kill me"  
"What was that"  
"Nothing, but I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow at school I guess, that's when I start going here," She said, swinging the racket in the direction of the school. "Oh yeah"  
she moved over and handed him the racket, "Just remembered that wasn't mine. You're on the tennis team, yeah? Maybe I'll come watch practice tomorrow, I've really got nothing to do." Ryoma didn't say anything, but she smiled none the less. "Alright then,  
buh-bye"  
"Bye," Ryoma returned the gesture and watched her walk out of the court and around the school. Once she was out of sight he let out a sigh, "What a strange girl." He put his rackets into his bag and headed home.

"Shia? Is that you?" Shia closed the door as her mom hollered the question from the kitchen.  
"Yes," She answered and let Samson off of his leash. Her fingers tinging when they brush the leash, small scraps covered her hands that had grown so soft over the years she hadn't held a racket. She started for the stairs, she couldn't let her mother see her scratched up hands. "I'm not really hungry, so I'm going to go unpack my things and go to bed, okay?" She rushed up the stairs without waiting for an answer. She went strait to her room and closed the door quickly. She let out a huge sigh of relief and rubbed some lotion onto her hands. She loved tennis, but she hadn't played in so long... Not since.  
She refused to think about it. That was over and it would never happen again. Never. She grabbed her boxes and began to open them. She put away clothes and plugged in her stereo, moving books and the like onto shelves. When there was only one box left she just stared at it. It was the only box that had been unlabeled, all that was written on it was 'Shia' in small jagged letters. She took this box and put it into the closet, she wasn't sure what to do with it yet. She sighed again as she flopped onto her bed and was soon asleep.

It was dark when Ryoma got home. He walked into the house and closed the door behind him. "Hey," his father said when he walked past the living room, "What took you so long?" Ryoma didn't stop walking.  
"I ran into someone," He said and walked up to his room, "I'm going to bed"  
Nanjiro Echizen smiled on the couch.  
"Hmm, I wonder what he's trying to hide?" He chuckled to himself, "He's always like that when he doesn't want to tell me something"  
The next day Ryoma was up early. His cat, Kalpin, moved off his bed as he threw the covers off and swung his feet over the beds edge. He dressed hurriedly and grabbed his tennis bag before heading out the door.

"Uh... Where am I?" Shia scratched the back of her head. She saw a teacher at the end of the hall. "Hey, it's that teacher from yesterday! Hey! Mr. Teacher!" She waved and the man looked like he was scared out of his mind.  
"No! Not you!" He yelled and ran off.  
"Huh, I wonder what he was afraid of?" She looked around behind her, "That silly man! There's nobody else but me around!" She laughed then looked sad again, "Oh yeah,  
I'm lost..." She looked around, but no angel in disguise came down the hallway to save her. She sat down and leaned against the lockers, her head buried in her arms. She felt like she should cry or something, but no tear flowed from her eyes. It was almost a comical thought, how you only seemed to be given so many tears in one life, and then when you used them up they were gone, a resource that disappeared. "Hey," A voice said and she felt a hand graze her shoulder. She looked up. "Are you okay?" She looked up at a boy with a smiling face and light brown hair. "Hi, I'm Shusuke Fuji"  
"H-hi, I'm Shia, Shia Raiku," Shia said, blushing slightly. She averted her eyes slightly, "Uh, I'm a bit lost... Could you tell me how to get to class1-B"  
"1-B? Isn't that Ryoma's class?" Fuji asked, mostly to himself, his smiled never disappearing from his face.  
"It is," Another voice me from the end of the hallway. They both looked over to see Ryoma, his tennis bag tossed over his shoulder. "Come on Shia, this school isn't that big"  
"Wait, you two know each other?" Fuji asked.  
"Y-yeah," Shia answered for the two of them, "We met yesterday when I was checking out the grounds. He helped me out then to, now that I think of it..." What better help could he give? Giving me the chance to play tennis again.  
"Well, I trust that he can get you to your class then," Fuji said, "I'm a bit late myself! See ya around! And I'll see you at tennis practice Ryoma"  
"See ya!" Shia yelled with a smile and a wave and Ryoma muttered his good bye.  
Ryoma sighed and started off down the hallway.  
"Come on," He sighed and Shia followed, a smile still alight on her face. When they finally entered the classroom, the room broke into whispers and the teacher moved back.  
"Hey, it's the scardy man!" Shia said happily and the man ran to hide behind his desk.  
"Why me? Why meee!" He sobbed. The rest of the classes were uneventful and the day ended rather quickly.

Ryoma sighed as he stepped onto the tennis court that afternoon. His racket in his hand, his shorts already on, he was ready for whatever the practice might throw at him. At least, he had thought he was ready at the time, but really, he was anything but ready for what happened then.  
"Hiya Ryoma!" The voice startled him and he turned around to see Shia. She laughed, "Don't look so surprised, I said I'd come"  
"Yeah, you did," He said, "But they won't want you on the court. Did you sign up for the girls team"  
"No, I... don't want to play..." She said, her eyes and face strangely blank and without emotion. He sighed under his breath, She's a terrible liar. "Anyway, what kind of school is this that they wouldn't want me on the courts"  
"Well, the starters are about to have practice." Ryoma informed her and she became aware of shadows towering over her.  
"Well, well, who is this? You're girlfriend, Ryoma?" An eighth grade starter named Takeshi Momoshiro asked jokingly. Ryoma shook his head in an annoyed manner.  
"Hey, it's Shia!" Fuji said with a smile. The ninth grade starter grinned with the same childlike plainness as he had before.  
"Hello, Fuji-san! It's good to see you again!" Shia went on happily, "I didn't know you were a starter"  
"Naturally." Fuji answered.  
"What is she doing on the courts?" Another starter asked, this one being the eighth grade Kaido.  
"Hmm?" Shia glance at Kaido, "You're just a little bit scary!" Kaido's temper flared and ninth grade starter Eiji Kikumaru chuckled a bit. She continued, "Hey, don't get mad, I'm just stating a fact." She sighed, "Anyway, I'm going to go over there and watch okay? Buh-bye!" She waved and walked away to the courts edge and sat down, her back against the fencing.  
"She's not going to get behind that fencing, is she?" Ninth grade starter Shuichiro Oishi sighed, but Fuji just smiled and told him that she wouldn't.  
"I just hope that she doesn't get hurt..." ninth grade starter Takashi Kawamura looked nervous and timid. Ryoma, who couldn't see her because she had seated herself directly behind him, smiled a bit.  
"Is there a racket near her?" He asked and the others seemed mildly surprised.  
"Well, yeah," Momoshiro answered, "There's one about two and a half feet away"  
"To her left or right?" Ryoma asked.  
"Her right," Momo was the one to answer again.  
"Then she'll be just fine," Ryoma said.  
"Wait, what do you mean?" Momshiro asked, but the captain, Kunimitsu Tezuka came over before Ryoma could answer.  
"Come on, we got practice to start," They all nodded and followed him over to a court where Sadaharu Inui was waiting.  
"Hello everyone," He said, moving his glasses a little higher on his nose, "Today we're just doing the cone drill, and then maybe some practice matches." He told them all and they all sighed and get into a line on the edge of the court. Momoshiro moved into the court and waited. Sadaharu moved to the other side and grabbed a random ball from a bucket. He tossed it up into the air and then lobbed it over Momoshiro's head.  
"Red!" Momoshiro jumped up and slammed it into the red marked cone. He grinned and moved off the court. Ryoma moved on and did the same thing, calling a blue ball and hitting it to the perspective cone. Shia smiled as she watched, her eyes alight with interest. They did this for a long time until they were all pretty tired.  
"If we want to improve," Kunimitsu told them, "Now is the time to do it, while we're tired. 30 laps each." No one argued, they simply left and started to head out.  
"Wait." Sadaharu said and they all stopped, glancing back. He was smiling, "Who ever finishes last has to drink my vegetable extract." They all ran. Shia got up, dusted herself off and followed, running fast enough to keep up with Ryoma.  
"Ryoma!" She shouted and he looked over at her.  
"Why are you running?" He asked and Shia smiled.  
"I like to run. Hey if I beat you in will you play me again? For real this time"  
"I'll play you after practice if you want but when I win this race you better be the one playing for real.  
"Is that a challenge"  
"Yeah, I would say so"  
"Bring it on!" She yelled happily and picked up the pace. In the first couple laps they raced past Kunimitsu and Oishi, who were planning to save their energy to the end,  
and then past Fuji, who didn't really care if he had to drink it. They dashed past Taka a few laps after that, one on either side, and then struggled a bit to catch up to Momo and Kaoru, who were in a dead heat. With a bit of trouble they managed to make it past them finally they finished their thirty laps, everyone in a dead tie. Shia leaned back against the fencing of the courts.  
"Man, you guys... Run hard," She said between gasps for air.  
"L-like-wise," Taka answered her. Shia turned to Ryoma.  
"I guess we're both playing for real?" She asked and Ryoma smirked.  
"What fun would it be if one of us slacked off?" He asked and Shia returned the smile as she laughed.  
"Well," Sadaharu said, "I don't see why I couldn't play a practice match with one of the starters if Ryoma thought this girl was enough practice. I mean, as long as Kunimitsu doesn't mind"  
"I don't," Kunimitsu answered all of the questioning looks. "It would probably do Ryoma some good to play someone his own age anyway"  
Fuji smiled. Ryoma nodded.  
"You'll be needing a racket again then?" He asked and Shia shook her head. "I brought my own today," She said and walked over to her school bag to get it.  
Ryoma studied it.  
"Looks old," Momo commented.  
"It is, but it's also lucky," Shia grinned.  
"Well, the rest of the starters pair up! One on one matches today!" Kunimitsu barked and all of the starters followed instructions as Shia and Ryoma moved to the far court.  
"Treat me kindly," Shia winked and Ryoma sighed.  
"Sure, you serve first." He tossed her a ball and she obliged. The game had begun. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Kunimitsu," Oishi said from behind, making the captain turn around, "Take it easy, huh?" Kunimitsu gave him a small nod to say that he wouldn't over do it and headed to the other side of the court. "You can serve."

"Hey, Viper! Your serve!" Momo said, passing him a ball.  
"I don't need any kind of handicap from you," Kaoru hissed and threw it back,  
"You serve"  
"Hey! I told you to!" Momo snapped, firing it back.  
"Well, I declined!" Kaoru spat back, returning the ball.  
"You wanna fight?" Both yelled at the same time. Fuji sighed from next to Eiji on the court over from them.  
"Nyah! Why are they being partners if they hate each other so much? All they end up doing is fighting!" Eiji commented, showing his laid-back demeanor.  
"Who knows?" Fuji asked with a smile. "Shall we?" Eiji returned it.  
"Yes," he handed Fuji the ball.

Taka bowed from his side of the net, "Thanks for playing me Sadaharu." Sadaharu nodded.  
"Sure, pick up your racket Taka," He said and Taka did, suddenly alive and ready.  
"Bring it on! I'm BURNING!" He yelled and the game begun.

Ryoma moved to cover Shia's volley, lobbing it back over the net. Shia jumped up for a smash and smiled when Ryoma returned it, she moved to the far corner and hit a cross back over the net, Ryoma returning it with a hit to the opposite corner. As the other starters finished their matches they wandered over to watch.  
"Dang, they're still goin'?" Momo asked, wiping some sweat off his face with a towel, "Hey you two, what's the score"  
"Zero-all." Both answered, never taking their eyes off what they were doing.  
"Y-you're kidding!" Taka said, "Everyone else has finished their matches and neither of you have even scored a point yet"  
"I would have, but..." Shia started.  
"...I can't find..." Ryoma said.  
"...A weak spot." Both cursed under their breath and Shia moved to volley another ball. Ryoma used his one footed split-step to get across the court and hit it back to the perspective corner. Shia moved over and caught it in her hand.  
"Your point," She said, "but I'm tired of volleying, you serve." Ryoma smiled.  
"Sure," he said, switching his racket to his right hand and hit his famous twist serve. Shia smiled.  
"I was hoping you'd do that," she said and volleyed it back over the net, putting a stop on it so it never bounced. Everyone just stared for a moment. A twist serve Ryoma hit right handed came right at your face and wasn't easy to volley, but this girl had done it like it was nothing. "So that's how it works huh? Oh, how exciting!" Ryoma tossed her the ball for her serve. "I think... I'll give it a try..." She smiled even wider as she threw the ball up and then hit a twist serve right back at him, Ryoma returned it with a lob, though he was a little stunned that she could hit it by just deciding to try it. "Lets try something else I saw earlier!" She said and jumped up into the air using a move very fammiliar to the Seishun tennis team members.  
"The dunk smash..." Momo muttered incrediously as Ryoma struggled to return it.  
He did though.  
"And here's another one," she said and she hit a lob that landed right on top of the back line of the court.  
"Moon volley..." It was Oishi's turn to be surprised. Ryoma moved back as far and as quickly as he could and managed to catch it on the bounce, just barely. (Yes, I realize that doesn't seem possible.) Shia moved to hit it from the odd angle of Ryoma's return and hit another shot she had seen that day.  
"The snake..." Kaoru hissed, "How could she have learned that...?" Ryoma returned this one as well, but Shia was at the net though and she hit one more shot.  
"The triple counter..." Fuji mummbled seriously. Since it never bounced, or rather it bounced so low to the ground it seemed to roll, Ryoma couldn't return it. The score was one to one. Ryoma was about to pass the ball back to her for her serve when she waved her hand.  
"I conceed," She said with a sigh, glancing at her watch, "I really need to get home." She started to move towards her bag when several of the guys blocked her way.  
"Hold on," Momo said, "How did you hit those shots"  
"I think she's with one of the teams that're spying on us," Kaoru put in venomisly.  
"Those aren't easy shots to hit," Fuji reprimended them and turned to Shia, "But how did you learn to hit those shots"  
"Huh?" Shia asked with an innocent smile. Their eyes opened wide.  
"What do you mean.. 'huh'?" Oishi asked and Shia smiled.  
"By 'huh' I mean: huh?" she said, "I learned those shots while watching your practice and paying a little bit of attention to the games you played against each other just now. I have a photographic memory, when I want to remember something I remember it.  
Plain and simple." (Meanwhile at Yamabuki, the 'Plain and Simple' doubles team just sneezed.(Manga version, ya nkow)  
"Huh?" They all said at once and Shia sighed.  
"Okay, maybe not that simple, but it's just the way my mind works, I can't help that," She shrugged, "But really I have to get out of here, I'm late. Bye." She waved and grabbed her bag before starting off the court. The starters al said goodbye and then thought for a moment.  
"Those shots require skill and training," Taka sighed, "There's little chance she could just study it while watching"  
"Why not?' Sadaharu asked, "I found out how Kaoru hit the 'boomerang snake'  
in the district prilimanaries, didn't I?" "Well, that's you Sadaharu, no one else can really think like you do," Eiji sighed,  
"Nyah! You're like a robot or something!" The others, except Kunimitsu, all smiled a bit at this comment.  
"She did just move here," Ryoma said, "This was her first day. She told me that she used to play when she was little, but she isn't planning on going out for the girls team"  
"Why not?" Fuji asked, "She'd certainly make it"  
"She said that she didn't want to," Ryoma answered.  
"Weird..." Momo said, "I got the feeling that she lived for tennis... I don't think someone with an attitude like that would have spied on our team before... I think she really did just learn from observation"  
"If she did then that's just scary," Eiji smiled, a sweatdrop running down the side of his face.  
"Yeah..." The others agreed.  
"Well, practice is over," Sadaharu said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow"  
"Yeah, bye." One by one the players grabbed their bags and headed home.

Shia walked into her house to find her mother waiting on the couch in the front room. Her mother, her arms folded across her chest and her eyes hidden behind trendy specticals, had a grim look on her face as she asked, "Where have you been?" Shia stopped in front of her.  
"I stayed after school to talk to some of my new teachers," she lied, she had already thought of all of this. Her mother reached out and grabbed her wrist before Shia could move it away and flipped her palm face up. "What's this? Where did you get these scratches?" her mother asked, her eyes and voice made of solid ice. Shia, however, had expected this as well.  
"I tripped on the way home and my hands got scratched up when I caught myself"  
She said, the story had been well rehersed in her mind and her tone stayed steady. Her mother let go and she turned to head for the stairs. "I think I'll go to my"  
"Your racket is sticking out of your backpack," her mother cut her off and Shia turned back in surprise. The woman was already up and had grabbed her wrist already to keep her from running. Her mother slapped her, raking her nails across her cheek. "Do you think me a fool! I told you to never play that cursed game again! Aren't you listening?" Shia winced in pain. When she was angry, this person wasn't her mother any more. It was 'That Woman'. She bit her lip as the woman struck her again, backhand this time. "You're demon spawn! You need to know that!" This time it was a sweeping kick, knocking Shia off her feet as a fist met with her stomach and another wave of pain rushed through her body. Shia heald in her cries, she wouldn't give that woman the satisfaction. "I regret nothing I've done in my life... Nothing except having you"  
Another rain of blows fell down upon Shia until she was forced into a ball sacrificing her arms to protectect her head. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore. She screamed. The blows stopped, but Shia just trembled, unable to find the strength to get back up. She turned her head slightly to see that woman moving towards her backpack. Her mother unzipped it all the way and took the racket out. "This is an instrument to bring out your demonic powers!" She said and took it in two hands.  
"No..." she mumbled, "Don't do it..." Her mother ignored her, bringing the racket down and slamming it against Shia's arms, which were still protecting her head and breaking the racket. (It was an old wooden one)  
"Now you cannot do the devil's bidding," She turned away from Shia, "I'm making dinner, but you won't be eating tonight. You will lay there on the ground until I say otherwise, do you understand?" The woman waited for an anwer but Shia's voice had left her and she couldn't find the strength to nod her head. The woman spun around and kicked her in the stomach. "I said do you understand?" She snapped and Shia managed to find her voice.  
"Y-yes!" She said and the woman turn away again.  
"Good," She said and walked out. When she was gone Shia let it all out. She cried, her tears wetting the carpet.

Everyone stared as Shia came into class the next day. She was wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt, not the Seishun uniform. She also had a bandage on her right cheek and an embarressed smile on her face. She turned to the teacher. "I'm sorry," she said, "I tripped yesterday and my uniform became covered in mud, I haven't had a chance since I got here to get an extra one so I had to wear normal clothes today. I would have washed in last night, but I was busy trying to catch up in my classes for what I've missed this year." The teacher just nodded and told her to take her seat. She did so and Ryoma cast her a suspicious glance.  
"Is that what the bandage is from to?" he asked and she smiled almost appoligetically.  
"Heh heh, yeah, I scratched myself up a bit on some rocks," she said. As always,  
she had an excuse to go along with the scenario. Lying was a skill that she had prefected over her life, most people just took what she said as the truth. Why would innocent,  
clueless little Shia have to lie? Just as she had predicted, Ryoma left the subject alone for the rest of class.

On her way to her locker she ran into Fuji. He smiled in his childish, yet sadistic way and they both said hello.  
"Ryoma said that you're not joining the girls team, may I ask why?" He asked.  
"You can ask, but that doesn't mean I'll tell you," Shia said with a fake smile.  
"Well, I might as well try. Why not"  
"I don't want to." Shia answered, her eyes glazed over in that odd way.  
"Really? I got the empression you loved tennis," Fuji commented. Though he seemed plain, Fuji was a genious, he was trying to lead her into telling him the truth.  
"I do!" She said, her mind working overtime, "I just don't want to play girls that don't really know what they're doing...! I used to play coed and the boys were always stronger and faster, more of a challange." She smiled and rubbed the back of her head subconsciously, "I just don't think it would be as much fun!" Fuji smiled.  
"Really? Hmm, I suppose that makes sense"  
"Yep! That's exactly it"  
"Ryoma told me about how you tripped yesterday going home. That's how you got hurt on your cheek right"  
"Yeah," She said, looking embarressed again, "I can be a bit of a klutz sometimes!" She laughed.  
"Is that how you got the bruises on your arms and legs too?" He asked and Shia froze up for only a split second, but Fuji caught it.  
"No, those are from when I fell down the stairs, I missed a step and lost balance, it hurt alot, but nothing too serious." She smiled again, hoping this would pass, she could think of nothing better so quickly.  
"Oh, you should be more careful then," Fuji said with a smile, "I suppose I'll see you later"  
"Yes, bye,"She skirted off down the hallway. She didn't stay to watch practice that day or the next. For an entire week she avioded tennis, watching it, playing it, talking about it, she blocked it from her mind. The pain her bruises gave her was an almost constant reminder of what would happen to her all over again if she wasn't careful. As the bruises healed, however, her hope rised as well and she started coming to watch the practices again. She stayed on the other side of the fence, so as not to tempt herself into chalanging someone, but she watched, always leaving as soon as it was over, never spending any less time than was needed. That woman didn't make an appearence during that time. No, that woman didn't know, life was fine... but not for long... 


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright! I'm feelin' good today!" Shia smiled under the warm sun, her eyes closed and her features showing that she was content. "Man it feels good to be in a uniform again!  
Less people stare ya know"  
"You could've just washed your uniform sooner," Ryoma sighed and Shia laughed.  
"Well you know how that stuff goes," She mused, "I just didn't have to time really." They walked towards their class in silence for a while. Finally Ryoma looked over at her.  
"Lets play a match after school today, I don't have practice," Ryoma said and Shia looked over at him, mildly surprised that he would challenge her.  
"I can't..." she said, averting her eyes, "I have some things to do today." She smiled lazily, "I've been busy ever since I moved here"  
"Really?" Ryoma asked and Shia nodded. Talk between them was sparse for the rest of the day and Shia rushed away right after school, leaving so quickly that she forgot her bag. Ryoma picked it up from beside her seat and looked at it. There was a new adress plate on the bottom. "At least I know where to take it." he mumbled and headed out the door.

Shia rushed into the house and up to her room. She moved quickly over to the closet and pulled out the box she had placed in there before. She opened it, looking at it's contents. A tennis jersey, a golden colored racket and a journal. She ignored the journal,  
but pulled the racket out, twirlig it in her fingers weighing it in her hands. She felt like she should smile, holding that piece that took a place in so many of her fondest memories.  
She couldn't smile, she couldn't find it in her to do something like that. The good memories that made her want to smile only triggereed more terrible ones, like being beaten and 'that time'. Before she knew it her shoulders were trembling with the force of her tears as they flowed forward unrelentingly. In her distress she seemed to let go of something inside. A crash was heard from the kitchen. Feet thundered up the stairs and Shia moved quickly to hide the racket, tossing it under her pillow and the box back into the closet. The closet door shut itself as her mother stormed in.  
"What in the name of all that is good are you doing up here!" The woman yelled,  
a broken plate still clutched in her hand. She threw it onto the ground, the peices shattering all over the carpet, "Why does this always happen with you! Why was I cursed with a beast as a child!" The woman came over and grabbed Shia's wrist and as the girl struggled to get away the pillow fell off her bed and the racket lay exposed to the room. The woman's rage furthered, her face reddening, "You evil demon spawn! You little devil! You terrible demon child!" The insults flew relentlessly as the woman grabbed the racket and began to beat Shia with it. The blows came down like a freezing rain, stinging and continuos, coming at her haphazardly, but repeatedly.  
Finally she broke the racket over the girl's shin and tossed it aside, using her fists to continue the flow of pain that she had started. Shia moved her arms up, sacrifising them for her face. If her face was too damaged an excuse would be much harder to come up with. Finally the blows stopped for a moment. Shia managed to stand up and raced past her and out the door. Tears continued to stream down her face as her mother's screams followed her, yelling for her to come back, that her punishment wasn't through yet. She was fast though, and was down the stairs and out the door before her mother could catch her.

Ryoma rounded the corner onto a new street. It matched the one on the address plate. A ways further down a girl rushed past him. He paused and glanced back at the quick moving figure. 'I didn't get to see that person well, but the only girl I know that can run that fast is Shia.' He turned around and raced after the figure. He could still catch up.

Tears continued to stream down Shia's face as she ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't really care and her tears were blurring her vision so much that she couldn't have known where she was headed even if she did know the destination. In her distress her control fell to pieces, a nearby window shatterd and somewhere else a car spun off the road. Her crying just got worse and finally in the race of confusion she tripped, falling face first into the sidewalk. She didn't bother trying to get up, she didn't care anymore. She just stayed down on the cold cement. What good would come of getting up? What was the piont of going on if she would only be pushed back down? She was tired. If she went to sleep would she ever wake back up? Deciding didn't matter because her eyes closed whether she willed them to or not. Darkness was bliss as the exhaustion took over and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Ryoma sighed when he saw her on the ground. He moved to her side and gentely moved her onto her back. 'She's covered in bruises,' he thought as he glanced at her legs and arms. Her chest rose and lowered with labored breaths, but she was breathing. Ryoma sighed and picked the girl up, Shia was limp in his arms. It didn't look like she needed a doctor, but she certainly needed rest. Judging by the bruises and how fast she had run away from her house, he decided that wouldn't be a good place to take her. He sighed again and began walking in the opposite direction they had come from. Towards his house.  
"Well well," Nanjiro Echizen smiled as Ryoma walked in the door, nudging it shut behind him. "What do we have here"  
"Save it," Ryoma said, "She's a friend from school, she's pretty bad off." Nanjiro glanced over the bruises with a more serious expression.  
"What happened"  
"I don't know, she was like this when I caught up to her, she was running for a long time"  
"Really?" Nanjiro sighed, "Well, we can't just dump her by the curb, put her on the couch. We can get your mother to fix her up some." Ryoma did as he was told as Nanjiro called Mrs. Echizen into the room. The woman came and took a look at the girl on the couch.  
"This will take some work," she said and grabbed the first aid kit.

Shia was awake before she opened her eyes, she felt around her hesitantly. She vaguely remembered the incident with her mother and the pain in her arms and legs told her that that was real. She tried to think back but all she could remember was running.  
'...And then I tripped...' she thought. She realized with a cold sensation that she was no longer on cement, but rather something soft. She sat up quickly, opening her eyes. Pain shot through her body from the sudden movement, and she grunted a bit.  
"Hey!" a voice yelled, "They told me not to let you do that!" Shia turned to see and elderly woman with a feice expression. "You are to rest up until they get back so lay back down!" Shia obeyed, this woman had an air of authority to her, Shia knew it was best to just do as she said. The woman came around the couch and smiled, "Good." She said, "It won't be too long and then they'll be back, but they'll want to ask you some questions, as will I"  
"Who are they? Where am I?" Shia asked.  
"Hold your horses, you're Ryoma's friend right? You're at his house. He brought you here yesterday after he found you passed out on a sidewalk somewhere"  
"Oh," Shia said, "But you said 'they' who else are you talking about"  
"Ryoma, of coarse, and his father. I'm Ryoma's grandmother and his mother and father are at work and Ryoma is at tennis practice right now. It's already afternoon, you slept through the whole day! His cousin leaves with us as well, but she is in an after school program at her school and she won't be back for a while yet to come" The old woman smiled, the lines of her face deepening, "They've placed you in my care until they get back"  
"Oh," Shia said again, it was allot to take in. She looked around as much as she could without sitting up. So this was where Ryoma lived? She heard a door open and shut.  
"Ah! They're here!" Ryoma's grandma said and Ryoma and an older man, his father,  
walked around the couch.  
"Hey! She's awake!" Ryoma's father smiled, "I'm Nanjiro Echizen, Ryoma's father"  
"I'm Shia Raiku, it's nice to meet you," Shia introduced. "Hi Ryoma... Um.  
Thanks for helping me out... again"  
"Not a problem," he said, "What happened"  
"I think we all want to know," Nanjiro added. Shia averted her eyes.  
"I appreciate all that you've done for me," She said, "but it's not really any of your concern." Ryoma looked like he might push the matter further, but Nanjiro shook his head.  
"Ryoma, why don't you take her up to your room and let her lie in the bed for a bit? We can call her back down for dinner." Ryoma nodded and helped Shia off the couch and up the stairs. He took her into his bed room and she crawled into the bed and under the covers. Kalpin hopped up and curled up beside her. She rubbed the cats fur with a slight smile. She looked back up to Ryoma.  
"Are you mad," she asked, "that I didn't tell you"  
Ryoma sighed, "No, It's your decision"  
"I didn't want to talk about it with all of those people listening." Ryoma shrugged.  
"Again, your decision"  
"I want to tell you though. I think you deserve to know." Ryoma pulled a chair up next to the bed. Shia took a deep breath and then began, "I was always a little bit different. When I wanted something, something would happen to trigger events in my favor, when I was upset something would break or the person I was upset with would get hurt. everything was okay though, no one really seemed to notice." she glanced over at Ryoma again and then looked back to Kalpin, scratching behind its ears. "Everything was good. Then I started playing tennis and, just like it always did, things always seemed to tip in my favor. Balls that should have been out seemed to land in, just barely. If a ball was too high I would somehow find a way to get to it. Everything always seemed to go well for me." She sighed, "People would say I had the devils own luck and a heap of talent. Then... it happened..." She looked up at Ryoma again, "You have to understand, I'm not like other people, and it's not that I'm extremely lucky either. I can move things with my mind. I can do something as simple as lifting a paper clip from a foot away to something as difficult as lifting a boulder over a mile away or even rearranging an items chemical make up." She stroked the cat again before going on, "In this particular incident I did something like that. A ball was too high and I remember that I just wanted to get to it, no matter what. I knew it would land in if I missed. I just wanted to get to that one ball... and I did... With the help of a pair of black wings." Ryoma just stared at her for a moment, but she didn't go on right away. Finally she looked back up at him, "I got black wings, yes, but then a raven fell to the ground in the middle of the court. A raven without any wings." Ryoma was speechless now. "I wasn't a talented girl with the devil's luck anymore, I was a devil myself, a demon child, demon spawn." She sighed, "I know you don't believe me"  
"It's a pretty strange story," he admitted and Shia let out a reluctant sigh. She opened her eyes, her breathing slowed and her heart rate dropped. across the room a piece of paper and a pencil began moving, the pencil dragging itself across the paper and forming words. The pencil dropped back to it's original place and the paper came over and landing in Ryoma's lap. Scribbled on the paper in Shia's handwriting were the words,  
'I'm not lying.' Ryoma looked up at Shia and she nodded.  
"After that incident the beatings started. If I said played tennis or practiced tennis or even talked about tennis my mother would beat me in blind fury," Shia explained,  
"That's what happened yesterday and before when I played you. Even if I'm not using it,  
holding a racket is a big enough sin for her. I hope that you understand"  
"It would explain allot," Ryoma said, "I believe you Shia." Shia smiled for the first time since she had arrived.  
"Thank you," She said.  
"Get some rest, I'm going down stairs," Ryoma started to walk out. Shia put a hand up.  
"Wait." Ryoma stopped and turned around. Shia smiled.  
"I'm going out for the girls' team tomorrow," She told him and he smiled.  
"You've still got a ways to go," He sighed and continued out, "Good luck." Shia smiled to herself when he left the room, 'Ryoma's a nice guy...' she thought as she closed her eyes, 'I want to get to know him better...' She continued to smile as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Shia ate breakfast at Ryoma's house before they both left for school. It felt strange to be as happy as she was around these people. This kind of happiness was so alien to her, such a sweet essence had only appeared to her in her dreams, and even then it would eventually end in tragedy, when she awoke. This seemed to good to be true, she awaited when she would awake and find it all to have been nothing but a dream. She didn't wake up.  
The way this family was run was somewhat comical, as she had learned the day before when she had gotten to watch Nanjiro and Ryoma go at it on the court and then listen to the merry sounds of Mrs. Echizen cooking, pots and pans clanking around to create an odd, but pleasing melody. To listen to small spats about why they never ate Japanese food, Ryoma's grandmother being more content with Western foods. Ryoma's cousin being so open and friendly, letting Shia borrow clothes and doing her hair as if they were sisters. Shia couldn't remember the last time she had smiled so much and was almost disappointed to leave for school the next morning. She did though, Ryoma helping her not to get lost as they walked towards the school. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hi, My first author's message for awhile. Or maybe it's the first one at all for this story? I don't remember. Anyway, I wanted to take sometime to tell you all, those who actually read these (Do people read these?) more of my personal characters come out here. Although, as I told you all before I changed the summary for the story, Shia is not me at all even though she has my name, but the captain of the girls' team is partly based on me. She's allot better at tennis than I'll ever be though. Anyway, I've wasted enough space, please enjoy the story.

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Shia's bruises hadn't healed yet, but, like always, she had a story rehearsed to explain them and the day passed smoothly. However, standing in front of the gates for the girls tennis courts, she felt herself getting nervous. She glanced back and many of the boy starters gave her a smile of encouragement and Momo flipped her a thumbs up. She turned back to the gates but Ryoma's voice cut through her thoughts, "I think you'll need this." he said and she spun around to catch a racket. "Yours is broken, isn't it? You can have that one." Shia smiled.  
"Thank you, Ryoma," She turned around with a new found enthusiasm. She opened the gate and stepped onto the court. The boys all settled down just outside the fence to watch. Shia's eyes alit with determination as two members of the tennis team walked up to her.  
"Did you want somethin'?" A brown haired girl asked, "Or are you just planning to stand there with a racket?" The other girl, a blonde, softly hit the first girl on the shoulder.  
"Cara!" She sighed, She looked at Shia with a smile, "Hi, I'm Raina, can I help you with something"  
"I'm Shia and actually," She returned the smile, but her eyes stayed determined, "I'm here to join the tennis team." Cara, the brown haired girl, burst out laughing.  
"You realize that seventh graders pick up balls and do practice swings all day right!" She laughed. Shia's face stayed cool and set.  
"I understand that's how it works most of the time," Shia said, "But I've heard of incidents where it has happened otherwise. One right here at Seishun infact." Ryoma smiled from where he watched. Cara still seemed highly amused.  
"So that seventh grade starter has sparked hope in other young players? How cute," She said. Again Raina slapped her arm slightly.  
"Cara..." She looked back to Shia, "Well, Shia, we really encourage younger players, but you have to understand that only the best are starters and that is normally the older players, the Echizen boy was a rare exception." Shia smiled.  
"That's fine, I've already turned in my paperwork," She said, "When can I start"  
"Well---" Raina started but was cut off as Cara laughed again.  
"Fine! You can start right now, Rookie!" She smirked, "I'll play ya, we don't have practice for a half of an hour anyway!" Shia smiled in an evil way that Ryoma had never seen from her before, her bangs shadowed her eyes but the evidence of the cruel extent of her thoughts was obvious by the malicious smirk that played it's way across her face.  
"That sounds like fun," Shia said, "I could use a good workout." She stretched her arms, Ryoma's racket had a good balance and weight, it felt completely natural in her fingers. They moved onto a court. Raina sighed and moved up into the referee's seat.  
"I'll judge the match," She told them and both Shia and Cara nodded, moving into their places. Not a word was spoken as Shia bended her legs into a ready position and Cara served the ball hard and fast. Shia wasted no time getting to it. She wasn't going to play around with Cara, she was simply going to win. Cara seemed surprised at the return, but volleyed it back all the same. Shia moved into position for a moon volley, but thought better of it and hit a cross to the left at the last minute. She was going to win this and she was going to win it her way.  
Cara struggled to get to the corner, but returned the ball with a lob. Shia's eyes lit up and her mouth curved into that sadistically evil grin. Without the shadows covering them, her eyes brought a whole new perspective to the look. It sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who saw it. Even Kaoru shuddered slightly; the glare was even worse than his. Shia hit the ball back with a significant force, it wizzed over the net and to the right. Cara moved to get it on the bounce, but at the last minute the ball changed direction and bounced the other way.  
"Fifteen- love!" Raina announced and Cara passed Shia the ball, a dumbstruck look still on her face. She shook her shoulders, shaking the look off as well and got ready for the serve. Shia debated hitting a twist serve, sending the ball right at Cara's face, but, again, thought better of it as she tossed the ball up into the air and hit it in a way none of the Seishun players had even seen. She hit the ball over hand, but her elbow stuck out to the side, turning her racket inwards and sideways. Somehow the strange posture did nothing to upset her speed or power. The ball came and bounced near Cara's feet, she took a step backwards, ready for the bounce, but it didn't come the way she had expected It bounced strait up and then went over her head, landing on the back line of the court. Silence filled the air as the ball continued to bounce softly across the ground until it hit the ground and came rolling back.  
"When I was younger I was told that I had the devil's own luck," Shia grinned, "And that was what they called the Devil's serve!" Cara, again, looked dumbstruck, but settled down as she passed the ball back. A hint of worry filled her eyes as Shia tossed the ball into the air. She moved her arm into that odd position for the devil's serve, and then stopped, instead letting the ball fall into her out stretched hand. "You serve!" She tossed it back over. She glanced at Raina, "Go ahead and give her a point, okay?" Raina nodded and yelled out the score.  
Cara bounced the ball once or twice with a calm expression on her face. She threw the ball into the air and hit a speed serve to the left corner, Shia darted in that direction and was fortunate enough to catch it after a small slide. Shia wasn't afraid to get scuffed up in order to get to a ball.. The ball sailed over the net and Cara moved to volley. What looked like a normal lob suddenly changed into something Shia had never seen before. The lob came over and landed right in front of her, bounced up, and then seemed to almost stop in midair. Confused, Shia swung at the ball, which suddenly dropped. Raina gasped.  
"A stop ball! Cara...! If the captain saw that---" Raina started.  
"She would be very disappointed and would tell you to run twenty laps, immediately," A light-brown haired girl said in a flat tone as she stepped onto the court. Cara dropped her racket without a word and began running her laps. Shia took a step forward as her eyes returned to their normal, relaxed state.  
"H-hey!" She started, "It wasn't all her fault! I provoked her into playing her game better!" The captain's cold eyes turned on Shia.  
"And who would you be"  
"Shia, Shia Raiku," Shia said with a small bow, "I just turned in my paperwork today, I'm a tryout"  
"Well, Shia, I'm the captain of this team, Kiri Yamatashi, and I would say that your tryout is over," Her silvery eyes swept the entire court, "This team works differently than the boys team that everyone knows so well. We only use the starters that can prove their worth, both in practice games and in practice itself. You're a seventh grader, right"  
"Yes," Shia said, "but I'm aware that this school isn't keen to let seventh graders play, however it seems to be that way everywhere in this district"  
"Well, we work differently," Kiri told her, "If I were you I would watch your back around here"  
"I'll take your word for it," Shia said and the captain seemed to smile, in an odd, twisted way.  
"We have a strict rule about using your best moves outside of a tournament or practice. You've joined the team and tried out..." The smile got a bit eviler, "I think that calls for twenty laps." Shia smiled as she put down the racket Ryoma had given her.  
"I like the way this team is run," She grinned and started her laps. As she passed the boys on her first lap, Ryoma got up to run with her.  
"Hey," he said, "How does that serve work?" Shia glanced over at him and then forward again.  
"I wouldn't try it if I were you," She said with only the slightest smile. Ryoma didn't ask, but he smiled as they kept running. When Shia was done with her laps she went back onto the courts were Kiri was having a talk with the other girls. "We'll be announcing the starters in a week," She was saying when Shia walked up, "Of course, this means what it does every year: This next week, hold nothing back. Even the seventh graders are being given a chance, as always." She glanced around and a few hopeful faces darkened, "This year, however, I almost expect that we will have one seventh grade starter." The grins returned to the younger faces in the crowd and a few of the older ones smiled as well, but not for the same reason as the seventh graders. They planned to watch the hopes of hte seventh graders get crushed. "That said, begin practice." Raina stood up.  
"Alright," she said, "Um, seventh graders, court C, serve and volley! Eighth and ninth, courts A and B, free choice today, work in whatever area you think needs improvement!" The members of the tennis team all moved out without question or comment, Shia moved towards court C and the starters all moved along the fence until they were within earshot.  
"Hey, Shia," Momo said, "We gotta go, okay"  
"Yeah, practice," Fuji added and Shia nodded, walking over to the fence.  
"Thanks for watching me, I know you all stayed as long as you could," She smiled.  
"Nyah! It was fun!" Eiji said, "but watchin' ya got me itchin' to play"  
"Then you better go to practice!" Shia laughed and they all said their goodbyes before heading out as Shia moved back to the court. She grabbed a ball. She wondered what kind of serve she should use. Not the devil's serve, she was playing with seventh graders, and not a normal erve, she might get bored. She sighed and decided to work on her quick serve. She tossed the ball into the air, hitting it quickly before it got too high. The ball whizzed over the net and a seventh grader moved to return it, barely missing, hitting it on the edge of her racket. The ball spun off to go out, but Shia moved to save it so that the girl could try again. She got it this time and Shia continued to hit it straight towards the girl so it was nearly impossible for her to miss. A few crazy returns had her running a bit, but she didn't mind, in fact she enjoyed it. After awhile, Raina's voice called for a rest and the girl crossed the net to talk to Shia.  
"That was amazing!" she said, "It seemed like I couldn't miss a single volley! How did you do that"  
"I just hit them all to the general area of most people's sweet spot. I was just lucky that you have a normal playing style," Shia laughed, "I'm Shia, by the way"  
"I'm Sakuno, Sakuno Ryuzaki," The girl bowed and Shia laughed again.  
"You don't have to bow! I'm not your superior or anything, besides, I don't like that formal stuff," Shia told the her with an amused smile.  
"But you are superior! In tennis anyway," Sakuno added, still impressed.  
"No," Shia sighed, "If I was truely, 'superior' I would have been able make you hit all of your volleys to the the same general area." Shia thought, 'Like Nanjiro did yesterday.' "Whatever you say, Shia-san," Sakuno smiled. Shia returned it and the practice continued and was soon over. Shia used a towel to mop some sweat off her face and then passed it to Sakuno, who was sweating much more than she. They both went and changed in the locker room and came out refreshed. Shia stretched her arms out, "Ah, I always feel so great after working like that!" Sakuno gave her a questioning glance.  
"What happened to your racket?" She asked. Shia just smiled.  
"I left it in my gym locker," she replied, thinking about what answer she could use for the question that was sure to follow.  
"Why don't you take it home?" She asked innocently.  
"Hmm? Oh, you've uncovered my secret," she said carelessly, "I'm just extremely lazy. Yep, I don't want anymore to carry than I already have. Besides, I don't have time to use it at home anyway, so why take it there"  
"Aren't you afraid someone will take it?" Sakuno asked, her voice going a bit higher than before.  
"Oh, I don't think anyone will," Shia said, fighting to supress the evil look she felt edging onto her face. 'Besides,' she added mentally, 'They wouldn't want to know what would happen to them if they tryed...' "What do you mean?" Sakuno asked but another voice cut in before Shia could answer.  
"Hey, Shia," Shia looked up in response to her name.  
"Ryoma!" She said, "How was your practice"  
"Fine," He said and glanced at Sakuno, "Oh, so you're friends with wobbly-hips"  
"'Wobbly-hips'?" Shia mimmicked, "Are you ever nice to anyone Ryoma!" Ryoma didn't answer as Sakuno bowed.  
"Hello, Ryoma-kun," She said and Ryoma nodded to acknowledge her. She stood up straight again, "You know Shia-san"  
"Nope, never seen her before," Ryoma answered the way he would normally answer that kind of question, mostly out of reflex.  
"Oh please!" Shia said, then turned to Sakuno, "He just doesn't want to admit that a girl almost schooled him"  
"Almost being the main word," Ryoma commented to preserve his pride.  
"Oh pe-sha! If I hadn't had to leave that way you'd be cryin' about how bad yer whuppin' was!" Shia said, suddenly and very randomly slipping into an accent. Ryoma shrugged his shoulders. Sakuno laughed nervously.  
"I'm starting to feel like a third wheel here! See you guys tomorrow, okay? Bye!" Sakuno waved and sped off with her stuff. They watched after her for a moment.  
"What are you going to do now...?" Ryoma asked and she immidiatly knew what he talking about. Shia pondered over it for a moment.  
"I..." She turned her head away, "I don't know yet. I think I should probably just go home, but I'm still not so sure that's such a good idea." She sighed, "I can't just never go back there. Samson needs me, she hates that dog." She looked up to Ryoma with pleading eyes. It seemed strange to be asking for someone's advice. Still, she would appreciate it right now. Ryoma took a deep breath.  
"I don't know your mother," he said, "but from what you've told me, I could assume that tennis is what sets her off, right?" Shia nodded in wordless confirmation. "So," Ryoma continued, "Do you think she would have blown over by now, or would she be even more agrivated because you ran"  
"I... I don't know, I've never ran before, I've always just accepted the punishment..." Shia said, Ryoma slapped his forehead.  
"Don't think of it as punishment, you did nothing wrong," Ryoma told her firmly, "We need to talk to someone, an adult." Ryoma said, and hated himself for saying it. He hated adults. Shia looked up at him with a bewildered look.  
"I-I can't do that! I-I-I can't! No!" She stammered and Ryoma put a hand on her shoulder aand made her look him in the eye.  
"You don't have a choice Shia, even if you don't tell them about it, I will," He said. Shia looked horrified.  
"No! No! No!" She repeated, "I don't want them to know! I don't want them to hate me again! No!" Ryoma took a deep breath before continuing.  
"Shia, we just need to tell them about your mom, your secret can remain safe," he assured her, "I swear"  
"They won't believe us. Not without a reason for the beatings," Shia said and Ryoma realized she was right. Well, almost right.  
"My dad," he said, "My dad knew your condition last night, he saw the damage at it's worst"  
"He'll want to know why she'd beat me! No! No!" She continued to repeat. Ryoma put a hand on her shoulder and then glnaced around, glad to see that no one had been listening. She wasn't exactly being quiet about all this. She was now covering her ears in a childish way and repeating her chant of 'no', refusing to listen to him. He took her firmly by the wrist and pulled her left hand away from her ear and using his other hand to make her look at him. She was crying, but his face was set in stone.  
"I'll handle it," He said, "Trust me, Shia, I'll handle everything." Then he did somthing that she would have never expected: He pulled her close in an embrace, his right arm wrapped around her, holding her to him, and his left hand stroking her hair lightly.  
From where he hid around the corner, Fuji smiled, and it was a real smile. He had suspected something was going on with that girl and was releived to see it all working out. It didn't hurt that the situation seemed to be changing Ryoma for the better either. You walked away with the smile still on his face. It looked like he wouldn't need to help them out afterall. They'd just given themselves all of the push they would need.  
When they finally parted Shia had stopped sobbing, but was now in awe of what had just happened. She shook hersef slightly. It was just a hug afterall. Almost as if he could read her mind he gave her a sideways smile.  
"Kisses are for happy times aren't they? That seemed right," He told her and she blushed. He offered her his hand and she took it. If she was going to do this she might as well not do it alone. They walked onward. Not even fate could stop them now. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hiya one and all! I'm so happy I finally finished this! It feels like the others were much easier to write and I think this one is a bit smaller and not as interesting. That's okay because I expect the next chapter to be much better (I'm already planning it.) I'm sorry to those of you that don't like that Shia is such a strong player, but I don't plan to change that fact. It is part of who she is and to change that would change her and some of the plans I have already established in my minds. I'm not saying she's unbeatable, no, allot of people are better, but she is a good player. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer- I don't own Prince of Tennis

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"Are you seriously thinking about making that seventh grader a starter, Kiri?" Raina asked as she watched her captain going over that days practice. At first Kiri didn't say anything, her face set like it always was when she was working on something important. She was like this all week before they announced the starters.

"I'm considering it, yes, she did well today," Kiri said, but didn't look up from the paper she was scrawlling notes on. "Unlike many of the eighth and ninth graders, who are simply trying to show us their best and not doing as we asked: to have them work on what needs improvment. A willingness to improve is a requirment."

"Yes, I understand, but you have enough enemies as it is and if you make a seventh grader a starter you'll be asking for trouble," Raina warned. She wasn't talking to the captain anymore, but rather to one of her best friends. Kiri's twisted smile came onto her face again.

"They wouldn't try anything, especially not after the boys' team did the same thing," she told her as she finished the notes. "There," she said, "and you can tell Oishi to stop waiting outside the door. What is he a vampire that needs invited in?" Raina laughed a bit as she moved to open the door. Oishi was standing there, just as Kiri had said. It was kind of scary how she was always right about these things.

"Hello Yamatashi-san," Oishi said with a slight bow. Kiri nodded her head in response.

"Oishi," She said and he took a seat at the table in the club room. He glanced down at Kiri's notes, with the even handwritting, but that was scrawled rather carelessly across the paper. He read a few lines.  
"Not to happy with your new players?" he asked, an eyebrow raised at the riducule she had written out. She sighed.

"Not really, they're mostly strong players..." Kiri rested her head on the back of her hand. Raina got the hint and continued for her.

"She's upset that they are showing their best when she asked them to try to improve themselves today," Raina said with her careless smile. Kiri sent Oishi a suspiscious look.

"I know you didn't come here to ask me about the troubles I may be having with my players," She said flatly, "Just ask me your question, beating around the bush is annoying."

"Who says I came here to ask a question?" Oishi asked, but the look the female captain kept sending him told him to not try and deny it. He sighed, it really was strange how she figured out these things, "There was a seventh grader that came to tryout today. I wasn't able to come and see so I wanted to ask how it worked out. She's a friend of many of our starters."

"I figured that much, a few of them were hanging out around the courts before they had to go for their practice. Didn't they bother to tell you what happened?"

"You obviously have never really talked to those guys," Oishi sighed, thinking about the sadistic way they had kapt the information from him. Kiri smiled in her odd way.

"No, I haven't. I have my hands full enough as it is. However" she said, "The girl did well, she played one of our starters before practice and actually got her into playing her best game. Naturally I made them both run laps."

"You're ruthless," Oishi shivered.

"She was beating Cara too! It was an interesting match!" Raina put in from where she was standing by the doorway, "She used some amazing techniques too!"

"So she used Cara's techniques against her I'm guessing? We were quite startled when we first saw it too," Oishi smiled, but the two girls frowned.

"She didn't copy anyone's techniques, she used moves I have never seen nor heard about," Raina said, and Oishi looked surprised.

"I've never seen her use her own style, she managed to copy many of the best moves our players have just by seeing them once," Oishi informed them.

"That brat is a bit scary," Raina shivered and Oishi couldn't say he disagreed. He turned to Kiri.

"So, what are you thinking?" Oishi asked.

"You should know better than to ask Oishi, one's mind is their final sanctuary," Kiri quoted, but Raina laughed.

"She's thinking of letting the girl start," Raina informed him, at the expense of a small glare from Kiri. Oishi just smiled as he watched all this unfold.

"Well," he said, standing up and pushing his chair in, "I had better get going. I'll see you two around." he headed out the door, "Goodbye."

"Bye," both girls said and Kiri turned to Raina, "Why did you tell him?" Raina blushed.

"W-well, I couldn't see why not," she said, "Besides, Oishi's nice." Kiri's strange smile returned as her gaze drifted out the window. She already knew why Raina had acted that way, but she had to ask.

Nanjiro Echizen was disgusted by the things that this young girl was telling him. Just hearing about what she had been through made his skin crawl. There were times when he was sure she would burst into tears. Her shoulders shuddered and her voice occasionally shook. Not that he could blame her, she had been through allot. When she finally stopped the room went completely silent. Nanako, Ryoma's couisin, seemed to be hit the hardest by the news. This was a girl that had seemed so happy just the day before when they had hung out. Nanako guessed she hadn't even been happy then, not completely anyway. Ryoma's grandmother sat there with her lips pressed tightly together, not saying a word or attempting to break the silence. It was worse than she had previously feared when she first saw the tattered girl. Ryoma's mother had her hand over her mouth, which was still slightly open and shocked, even after Shia had stopped talking. She had seen all of the bruises when she had bandaged Shia up, but to think that her mother gave those to her was unsettling. Nanjiro opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and then opened it again.

"Why...? Why would she do this?" he asked slowly. Shia tensed up, but Ryoma put a reasuring hand on her shoulder.

"We don't know," He lied, "Tennis sets her off for some reason." Nanjiro looked like he wasn't ready to beleive this, but he shook his head.

"We can worry about that later," he said, "In the mean time, Shia, you can stay with us. I can't send you back there in good conscience."

"B-but! Samson!" She said quickly. Nanjiro raised an eyebrow.

"That's her dog. Her mother hates it," Ryoma explained.

"She won't feed him! She won't!" Shia said, no longer caring that these things were meant to be kept secret by the unspoken oath she shared with her mother. Nanjiro sighed and shook his head.

"First a girl and now a dog? I don't know how much more I can take," Nanjiro sighed, put his wife hit him lightly and he smiled playfully, "Alright, I'll take care of the dog. You just hang out here, I have to go take care of a few things first." He looked over at Ryoma, "Maybe you can punish my son on the courts for me." he said and Shia laughed.

"You have my word!" she smirked, "Aw! I didn't bring my racket because I thought I might be coming home!" she whined and Nanjiro smiled wider.

"You can punish my son with my racket! How fitting!" they both laughed while Ryoma scowled. Nanako Watched with only the slightest smile on her face. It was good to see Shia looking happy again, it had seemed so strange to see her not smiling when she had told them all those terrible things. 'Then again,' She couldn't keep the thought from crossing her mind, 'They say that He who smiles the most carries the greater silent rage within.' And, if only for that moment, she beleived it was true. 


	6. Chapter 6

Yay! Chapter Six! I never intended to take the story this far; it was something I had started for fun. It's still fun, but it seems to have developed much farther than I ever dreamed. Ha, saying all that made me feel like I'm celebrating it's hundreth aniversary or something! Sorry! Sorry! I'm just Psycotic that way.  
On another note, some of you might notice that one of the things Shia's mom says is a direct quote of Momiji's mother from Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket. As I'm a fan of that as well, I wanted to add it as I saw it fit, so note this as a disclaimer for that.  
As always, I do not own The Prince of Tennis or it's characters. And don't worry, everyone else comes back next chapter, I swear it!

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If Nanjiro Echizen had thought the things he learned from the daughter were terrible, they didn't even compare to the things the mother had told him. At his side a golden retreiver waged it's tail, seemingly oblivious to the mix of emotions Nanjiro was feeling. He shivered, he couldn't help it, and then shook his head as he walked over and opened the back of the truck for the dog to get in. The dog, Samson, ignored him and jumped into the empty door for the drivers seat, but moved over respectfully when Nanjiro came to climb up. He had decided a while ago to just let the dog be at times like this. He turned the key and started the car, the purr of the engine the only seemingly good thing he had heard all day. As he drove away his thoughts drifted back to the events that had happened in the house he was leaving behind.

(Just a memory people, don't be confused, please.)

He knocked on the door, a bit nervous to meet this woman he had heard had done so many things that were just immoral. The person who came to the door, however, was not what he had expected at all. The woman who stood before him depicted a happy live at home mom, an apron on and a still warm cookie tray filled with freshly baked cookies.

"Hi," she said in a cheery vioce, which he noticed, was a allot like Shia's, "Can I help you Sir?"

"Yeah," he said, quickly regaining his composure, Shia had warned him not to fall for her act, "Could I come inside? I'd rather not talk about this on your front step."

"Of coarse!" Her voice seemed to sing and she lead him inside, then hurried off to put the tray of cookies in the kitchen to cool. She came back in and made herself confortable on the couch as Nanjiro settled into a chair. "Now," she said,"What did you wish to talk to me about?"

"I've come here about your daughter," he said, and he saw the woman's shoulders tense up a bit, but she forced herself to look fairly calm, if not a bit worried about her daughter.

"Oh! She's alright isn't she?" she asked in a worried tone, "She hurried out yesterday and never came home! I haven't called the police because you have to wait 24 hours before you place a missing person issue, but I've been worried sick! Where is she?"

"She's at my house, ma'am, she's fine," His eyes flashed in a way they hadn't for a long time, "At least she is now, when we found her she was a mess, but I don't need to tell you about that, you already know." Her shoulders tensed up a little bit more.

"Oh? How could I know such a thing? I haven't seen my daughter since she ran out yesterday," the woman said, looking slightly hurt and confused.

"You know perfectly well what happened to your daughter because you did it to her," Nanjiro told her looking her straight in the eyes to let her know that he'd seen past her disquise. "She was lucky that my son found her passed out on the sidewalk and brought her back to our house. I'm not even sure how he got her to talk to us, but I found it all sickening." The woman was looking down now, her eyes shadowed.

"You find what I've done disgusting?" She asked, "Then you've seen nothing of that child. Not a thing. You've been deceived in a way you can never comprehend." She looked up, her eyes hard, "She's only told you half of the truth and a half a truth is of no use." Nanjiro didn't say anything for a moment so she continued, "I do not regret what I've done. My only regret in this life is that that thing came from my body." She looked at him with the eyes of a wounded animal that refused to be captured, in her he could see the wolf snarling, "If you want to take her away from me you can, I'll sign every document you put before me to get the demon out of my life. I'll move again, settle down where no one knows me and live a life uncursed or burdened by a child like that." Nanjiro stood up and carefully pulled out some documents that he had gathered before he came there.

"I didn't plan to leave here with Shia still in your custody," He told her, "I don't plan to take her in, but anywhere would be better for her than here. I see that very clearly now. All you have to do is sign the papers." He looked her in the eye with a bit of sorrow, "Sign the papers and you'll be free of this thing you call a demon. I hope you one day see that she is still a child and you have judged her too harshly." The woman took the papers without another word and signed on every dotted line she could see, then thrust the papers back at him.

"I'm leaving in a week," She said.

"I'll be back with Shia before then to get her stuff out of here," His eyes were ice and his tone matched, "I'll come when you're sure to not be home so that you never see you demon again. You don't deserve it. I'm taking the dog now." The woman said nothing else, but called the dog, which was wimpering, put a leash on it and then shoved the leash into his hands. He took the dog and the papers and headed out the door.

(End flashback)

Ryoma glanced at his watch as he and Shia took a break. What had started out as a tennis match had quickly changed into something of a joke for Shia, where she would make him lose concentration right before he hit a ball, causing control to be lax. She kept reminding him of earlier and making him blush. Still, it had been a while since his father left and he couldn't help but notice the time that had passed. He was about to tell Shia this when a string of shouts told him that his father was home and, judging by the curses Nanjiro was thundering, he had managed to get the dog. This was comfirmed when Samson bounded around the corner with his leash still on his collar and sniffed out his master, who greeted him happilly.

Nanjiro rounded the corner soon afterward, rubbing his head. It hurt because the dog had knocked him over when it raced past to get to Shia. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the happy look on the girl's face and it didn't hurt that Ryoma looked ever so slightly less annoyed than usual. As he watched, he sighed, thinking about what Shia's mother had said about not telling the whole truth. He had known that they were keeping something from him when they said that they didn't quite know what the beatings were for. Her mother was right about one thing, despite everything else, a half a truth was of no use.

Shia didn't know how long she would last. It was much harder to lie to people she saw at school, but if she was going to stay with these people for a while... She didn't like even the thought of deceiving these people, even though she had been deceiving for so long. She forced herself to think about it as something else, it wasn't nesicarily lieing was it? She had never lied to these people. Ryoma had in saying that they didn't know the reason for the beatings, but her silence could not be called disception could it? She never misslead them from the truth. Ryoma told her to trust him, that he would protect her. It scared her to admit that she was leaning on another human being so much. She had never done this before, it stirred up an odd feeling inside of her that she couldn't quite place. Her eyes were lowered to the ground, but she knew what faces were around her. Nanjiro was smiling, but there was concern hidden behind the mask and Ryoma was scowling as they all got ready to head for the house for dinner. She lingered behind for just a moment, the father and son to rapped up in an arguemnet to really notice. Shia took a deep breath, then spoke in a shaking voice before she could stop herself, "I'll tell... I'll tell you everything... just..." She looked up with sad eyes, but refused to cry, "...Don't hate me."

Ryoma was stunned, he moved over to Shia, "What are you doing?" he asked quietly, "You don't have to do this. I'll protect you, I promise." Shia looked at him with a faint smile.

"I know you will Ryoma, but not now," She said, "Now... I have to tell... You've all done so much for me... I never dreamed I could experience something like this."

"Soon you'll be living like this," Nanjiro said, his sharp ears having caught their words. "Your mother has signed off all custody of you." He smiled, thinking it somewhat comical, "I never thought I'd be so happy to tell a kid they're an orphan" Shia laughed and hugged Nanjiro, and then Samson.

And finally Ryoma, whom she hugged tighter then anyone else and her expression seemed to brighten even more. He was only slightly annoyed that she had hugged the dog first, since the smell stil hung on her clothes slithly, but he forced the thought away, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered right now. Nothing but her happiness, her embrace, the smell of her hair (Which served as a great substitute for the dog smell), and his own happiness for her. Still, fear lingered at the back of his mind and he had to wonder. What happened from here? 


	7. Chapter 7

Hiya people! I'm so glad to take a break from the depressing stuff! Anyway, this chapter was really fun to write, but I'm afraid it might be kinda short compared to a few of the others. Ohwell, it has to end were it has to end. (Not the series either!) Anyway, please enjoy. I'm secretly proud of some of the dares.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

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"Shia-san!" Sakuno called and Shia turned to wave as Sakuno headed towards her. "How are you? You weren't at practice yesterday!"

"Yeah, well, I had a family emergency," Shia told her with a smile and it wasn't a complete lie, she had had a family emergency: She had been looking for a new one. The interveiws with people willing to adopt were taking loger than she had expected.

"Really? What happened?" Sakuno asked, innocently and unknowingly doing something Shia didn't like: asking questions that she had to think about.

"Nothing much! It really wasn't much of an emergency, but I have a note if someone trys to get on my case about it," Shia excused herself quickly.

"Oh, well, you know that the starters are being announced today right?" Sakuno asked and Siha nodded, looking excited.

"Yes! I can't wait for school to be over!" She exclaimed and Sakuno laughed as they both headed for their class.

She had told the Echizens everything, just like she said she would, about how it began, and how it digressed. Well, she told them allot of things, but not everything... That last secret was hers and her alone. All things considered the day passed fairly quickly and it wasn't long before she and Sakuno were both on the courts completely dressed down and holding their rackets.

The tension could be felt in the air as Kiri walked up, followed behind by Raina and Cara, both with small smiles on there faces, Shia assumed, because they were satisfied with the list of regulars.

"It's time," Kiri said, her vioce commanding immidiate attention from the girls on the courts they all moved closer so that they could hear. Kiri continued, "For us to announce the starters for this season. As you all know each of these eight people have been picked not only by me, but authorized by Coach Ryuzaki as well. There is no favoritism, everyone on this list were picked for their skills on the tennis court and not as if it were a popularity contest. I will now read the names of the starters." The first name, of caorse, came as no surprise, "Kiri Yamatashi," She went on, "Raina Tanako," again no surprise, "Cara Mitoshi," Cara just smiled wider as the captain said her name, "Sharr and Shira Yuuba," as always the twin girls' names were said together and both smiled identically as they heard their names, moving next to Raina. "Christine Gregory," The American girl's blue eyes sparkled as she took a step forward to join the rest of the starters, "Aine Safflower and..." The captain stopped for a moment to look around at the wating crowd as Aine stepped forward. She let one of her twisted smiles appear on her face and the crowd of girls murmmered for a moment, "Shia Raiku." Shia's face remained straight, but she was happy, Sakuno cheered from behind her and urged her to step forward. She did, her head held high dispite the whispers of the girls she passed, many of whom were not happy that she had gotten the spot. Kiri nodded to her and then turned back to the remaining group of girls, "We'll take today off, but tommorrow we're getting right back into practice. I need to talk with the starters everyone else may go." The girls left, some muttering about injustice and others waving goodbye to their friends, Sakuno waving almost wildly to Shia before heading off to change and then go home.

Cara was smiling wider than ever before as her eyes settled on Shia dn the twins,  
"Welcome to being starters kiddos," She said, "Sharr, Shira, I'm sure you know about the initiation, but our fressman may need filling in..."

"Well, Cara-senpai," Shia said, having a bit of trouble adding the last part, "why don't you fill me in so we can get it over with?"

"Come on now, don't be be so hostile, Chibi-chan!" Christine laughed, ignoring the slight glare Shia sent her at being called chibi, "It's not that big of a deal, new starters just have to take a dare from the older starters, that all. Simple really and it's fun, the girl's team at Seishun has been doing it for forever!" Though, Shia didn't fail to notice, Berdine seemed happy that it wasn't her taking a dare from this crowd.

"Yeah, remember what Kiri had to do?" Raina half laughed and half shivered as girl sent her a death glare.

"Don't mention it," She hissed, but this only made the twins want to know more.

"What did she have to do? What did she have to do?" They asked in unisen, but no one really seemed kean to invite Kiri's wrath by answering.

"Actually, I was thinking," Cara said, "There have only been two seventh grade regulars ever recorded for the girls' team..." She smirked at Shia, "Wouldn't it only be fitting to give them the same dare?" She looked over at Kiri, her expression had gone solid. "As long as Buchyou doesn't mind, that is." Somehow it didn't surprise Shia that Kiri had become a starter as a freshman. She shivered to think the kind of dare they had given her.

"I don't particullarly care," she said, her eyes betraying nothing of what she was thinking, "At least I won't be the one to suffer this time."

"It's settled then!" Cara smiled almost evily, "Shia Raiku your entry dare is to"  
She whispered it in Shia's ear and her eyes widened. That was about the worst thing thay could make her do.

------------------

Ryoma wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead as he saw Shia coming. He didn't think anything about it at first, he had grown used to her dropping in on practices, but then it hit him that she should have had practice. For a moment he thought maybe something was wrong, but he refused to let himself panic, especially after he saw her face, slightly red with her eyes atarring fixedly at the ground as if it was something very interesting that she had never seen before. He watched as she moved over to Tezuka and wondered vaguely what she was doing when he heard her mummble the word 'sorry' before doing something he would have never expected: she kissed him on the lips. From the fence five other girls began laughing like crazy, Starters, he presummed, then a girl with an odd smile that he took as the captain and a seemingly emotionless girl that must have also been a starter because she was wearing the jersey. It didn't take him long to notice that they weren't the only ones laughing either, Fuji, Eiji, Oishi, Taka, and Momo were laughing almost as hard. Even Kaoru chuckled a bit dispite himself. Shia was extremely red in the face and Tezuka was looking equally as annoyed as she was embarressed. Before he could yell out an amount of laps Kiri's vioce was heard over the laughter.

"I'm sorry Kunimitsu, but you know how it is," She said with a rare half-smile, a real genuine smile. Tezuka seemed to calm down a bit and the other starters began to regain control of themselves.

"What just happened?" Ryoma asked, and Eiji turned to him with a smile, his face slightly pink from laughing so hard.

"Are you blind Ochibi? Buchou just got kissed! Nyah!" he said, still laughing a bit after having said what he was thinking aloud. Ryoma looked slightly annoyed.

"I didn't mean that I would like to know what is going on. Why did she do that?" Ryoma asked. Oishi was the person to answer this time.

"Shia must have gotten a starter position," Oishi smiled, "The last time a girl kissed Kunimitsu it was because she became a seventh grade starter! You think we find this funny you should've seen it the first time when no one knew what was going on!" He laughed again.

"Why Ryoma? Worry your little girlfriend is cheating on you?" Momo laughed as the younger boy turned, blushing slightly, anger in his eyes. Shia met him with a kiss on the cheek.

"I'd be lucky if I was Ryoma's girlfriend!" She defended him and then moved off the courts, "I'll see you guys later!" She waved and then headed back to the girls' courts with her teammates.

"You almost enjoyed that didn't you?" Christine sighed and Shia smiled.  
"It was one of the more... colorful things I've done since I got here," Shia grinned. The twins were smiling to, until Raina turned to them.

"Now, what should you two have to do?" she asked and both girls let out a nervous laugh. Atleast they wouldn't have to go so far as to kiss Kunimitsu Tezuka.

"I hadn't thought of it," Cara admitted. Raina sighed, knowing she had been thiking completely of getting back at Shia.

"Sharr..." Aine started, "... Should have to ask out Takeshi Momoshiro..." The speech from the normally silent girl caught everyone's attention and Shira, Cara, and Christine all began laughing hysterically. Sharr turned a bright red, something not characteristic of her. Not because she was disqusted at the idea of asking Momo out, but because she was afraid of what he might say.

"That's a terrible thing to ask her to do," Kiri said, giving Sharr that strange feeling that Kiri gave everyone, that she was reading their mind. "What if he said yes"  
she asked with that sideways smile with a hidden meaning, and not a happy one.

"That's half of the piont!" Christine laughed, "Her dare should be to go on a date with Momoshiro!" Raina sighed.

"It's not that bad comparred to stuff they've made girls do in the past," she told them, "I still remember what they made me do..."

"You didn't have it that bad," Christine insisted, "You just had to make ten prank calls a night for a week. Why does everyone let you off so easy? Maybe they just think you're innocent..."

"That's seventy prank calls! Do you know how long it took me to come up with the ten for each night!" Raina said and Cara nodded understandingly.

"Yep, I had to help her on that last day, she'd already done everything she could think of and called half of the bussinessess in the city," She informed them all, "Christine worse though."

"That's right! I had to go out with anyone that asked for three weeks!" Christine whined, "Do you know how many people ask out foreign girls!"

"Hey, remember that girl that---" Raina started, but Christine put her hands over her ears.

"Don't even say it!" She yelled, "I'm still emotionally scarred! Even if nothing happened I'll never be quite as innocent as I was before that day!"

"I had to challenge all of the boy starters and then ask out anyone that beat me"  
Cara said, "I'm still not proud of the results..."

"What did you have to do Safflower-sempai?" Shira asked, and the emotioonless girl glanced at her for a moment and then looked away. The rest of the ninth graders, with the exception of Kiri, all began to laugh. "What? What happened!"

"They..." Raina laughed, "Were going to make her come to school in her underwear the next day, running around the halls screaming 'Boys be ambitious', but they saw how emotionless she was even after they mentioned it and decided it was safer to just make her try to smile!" Raina laughed again, earning a small frown from Aine.

"It took me three hours to make a proper one," she said.

"Enough," Kiri said, and they listened immediatly, "You still need to asign Shira a dare." Christine and Cara regained their devilish grins as they turned on Shira.

"What to make her do..." Cara muttered and Christine was struck by inspiration,  
muttering something in Cara's ear. Cara's grin widened and she whispered the dare in Shira's ear.

Shira went extremely pale, and fainted. 


	8. Chapter 8

Hi! I'm sorry it took so long to update! I've been having computer problems.and we just got a new one so I'm doing a major file transfer. Sweatdrop. Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter eight!

* * *

'I'm going to die,' Shira thought, 'There is no other way to aviod it'

"You could just refuse the starter position," Sharr smirked, as always she knew exactly what her sister was thinking. Kiri smirked as well, for she had been about to say the same thing.

"N-not a chance!" Shira snapped, "I-I can do it!" 'She doesn't look like she can do it,' Shia remarked in her head, watching the girl shiver in terror, awaiting the time she would have to make her move. She took a deep breath and looked once more at the boys'  
tennis courts, careful not to lose her nerve.

She began using "Deep-breathing" a warmup she normally would use for an important tennis match. She had a feeling that she would need to do more deep breathing for this than she ever had for any tennis match. With two breaths she got rid of the other starters' faces, with another two she managed to get rid of her petty fears of what the boys might say, their faces melted away from her mind. However, it took several breaths to get rid of the last face: her own, telling her how stupid she was being and wondering if it was turely worth it. One more breath. Her worried face was replaced with a scolding one which told her that she really didn't have it so bad, I mean, comparred to what some of the other starters had had to go through... She shook her head with a slight smile, deciding it wasn't that bad. The deep-breathing had really worked this time, as it had for her so many others.

She sauntered onto the boys' courts with her hands behind her back and ambled over to where the regulars were holding their practice. "Excuse me," she said, and then let out a small 'eep' as Kaoru Kaido turned to her with scary eyes. The tiniest amount of deep-breathing and she was fine again. "Excuse me, but I have an invitation for, uh, Tezuka-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, Oishi-senpai, Fuji-senpai, Takamura-senpai, Kaido-san, Momoshiro-san, Echizen-kopai, and, um, Inui-senpai." This got all of their attention, as Momo twitched slightly at being called by his full last name, let alone san.

"Y-you see..." She said, blushing slightly, two deep breaths and she began talknig normally, "My family owns a public indoor pool I'm suppossed to ask you all to come, because the girl starters are renting it out to celebrate having made the cut." She looked at them, "Please don't make me beg, having to ask is bad enough." Fuji smiled.

"I don't see why I couldn't go. It sounds fun," The tensai glanced at Oishi to see if he was smiling. He was.

"I love to swim," the assistant captain said, "I'll go if you can tell me the time and adress."

"Nyah! This sounds like so much fun!" Eiji grinned, almost overly excitdly. "I'll go! I'll go"

"Well, I guess..." Momo said, "As long as you just call me Momo from now on"

"It's a deal!" Shira smiled, then turned to the other starters, "I'm supposed to make sure everyone will go, no matter what length I have to go to. It's on Friday"

"I guess I'll go..." Taka blushed, "It really wouldn't be fair to say no just to make you beg.." Shira smiled wider, things were going much better then she had expected.

"Maybe I can gather some data..." Inui said and Eiji, who had been nearest to him at that moment, quickly moved away. Shira sweatdropped, but took it for a yes.

"I guess I'll go," Ryoma said, thinking 'afterall, Shia will be there and I should protect her from any hair-brained sceme Kikumaru-senpai might come up with'

"I'll go," Kunimitsu said, making many heads turn towards him. "Someone needs to make sure you all stay in line," he explained, but actually had to wonder if that was the only reason.

"Fshhhhhh," came Kaido's response, "I have other ways to spend my time"

Shira turned a deep red before muttering something about killing Christine for coming up with the dare and leaned over to kiss Kaoru right on the lips. He turned almost as red as she was (Much to the amusment of many of the starters) and stammered, "I-I think I'll go..." too shocked to say anything else. Momo laughed harder and Kaido quickly regained his composure, glaring at Momo.

"What's your problem?" he hissed, and Momo smirked.

"Problem? Why you're my problem Viper," he snapped. Before they could fight,

however, Sharr walked up and tapped Momo on the shoulder. He whirled around, gasped, turned back to Shira and gasped again. "What the heck!"

"Thsi is my twin sister, and also a starter, well, almost, she's working on initiation right now," Shira informed Momo.

"Well what is her dare th---?" Momo started but was cut off as Sharr whispered a question in his ear. He turned slightly red, "Uh... Sure..." Sharr smiled and then pulled on her sister's hand.

"Mission accomplished! We'll see you guys later!" She said and then both waved and hollered goodbye before heading to meet up with their fellow starters.

* * *

"Man today was cool!" Shia said on their way home that afternoon, "The girls' team seems pretty good, it takes guts to do some of their dares they were assigned. I guess they do it to weed out the people that can't take pressure."

"I don't see anything great about making girls run around doing stupid things and kissing people," Ryoma said, not meeting her eyes, his pride wouldn't allow him to let her see the slightly pink color that flushed into his cheeks.

"Did it make you jealous?" Shia asked, "Were you hoping you would be my first kiss?"

"O-of course not!" Ryoma said defensivly, turning a deeper shade of pink, "Why would I care about that?"

"Oh, good," Shia said, pretending she didn't see his blush, "Because that wouldn't have been my first kiss any..." She stopped and looked at a figure that stood only ten feet away from them. "...way..." she finished, still looking at the person.

"Shia, who's...?" Roma started, but couldn't find the words before the figure turned to them and smiled.

"Hi there Shia," the boy said, he couldn't have been much older than they were, "It's been a long time hasn't it?" His light brown hair blew in a picturesque way, the blossoms fally from the sakura tree only seeming to enhance the way everything felt like a painting with this boy. When he smiled his eyes closed ina way that vaguly reminded Ryoma of Fuji, but they opened when he spoke, revealing eyes darker than the blackest of nights, like raven feathers that couldn't catch the light, they seemed to block all happy emotion from his face although he seemed blissful none the less. "Y-yeah, long time..." Shia said, then bowed suddenly, "Uh, Ryoma-kun, this is Ayashii Seikaku. Aya-san, this is my friend Ryoma-kun."

"Oh really?" The smiling boy asked, "I could have sworn you two were going out by the way he kept blushing." Ryoma was a bit ticked off at this, but didn't get a word in as the older boy went on, "And actually, Shia, I tend to go by Ashi now, if you don't mind"

"Of course not!" Shia blushed, "It's your choice if that's what you want to be called!" His eyes closed again as he smiled at the girl in front of him, the picture looked even more complete from Ryoma's angle, as now Shia was near him, staring up and blushing. Ryoma couldn't help but be annoyed to notice his hand resting softly on her head. It just looked too perfect. Way too perfect.

"Shia, we should get going," he said suddenly, grabbing her elbow lightly and pulling her with him.

"Oh, you're probably right. I guess I'll see you around, Ashi-san!" She waved.

"That uniform is Seishun isn't it? You'll deffinatly be seeing me. Bye!" He waved and then turned to leave before Shia could ask what he had meant by that. Ryoma didn't know what that had meant either, but he didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.


	9. Chapter 9

Hiya, I'm back again, with this newest installment of 'The Prince of Tennis and the Princess of Lies". I'm thankful to everyone who reads and supports my work. As always, please read and review. I really enjoy it when people tell me what they think of my stories.

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'I hate him,' Ryoma decided, lying in bed that evening. He had barely paid any attention at the special dinner they had to celebrate Shia becoming a starter, or when she recollected the incident where she had kissed Tezuka. He couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious person from Shia's past. "Ashi," He said aloud, not even liking the way it rolled off his tongue. 'Ayashii Seikaku. His name even means Suspicious Character' He sighed, 'And he says he goes by Ashi... Evil...' He sighed again, "And Shia doesn't even notice these things..." He put his hands behind his head, letting out a breath in a way almost as Kaoru would have done. 'She's such a fool...' Even so, he blushed at the thought, 'Why do I want to protect her so much?' He rolled over on his side to face the wall. 'Of course, worrying about this guy isn't protecting her...' "This is just jealousy."

Shia couldn't understand why she would run into Aya, 'Ashi', she reminded herself, after all of these years. Life was finally looking up for her, but this would surely turn it upside-down again, and probably shake it up to boot. On the bottom bunk Nanako slept on, not realizing the troubles racing through her roommate's mind and the mind of her cousin just down the hall.

The next day both woke up grouchy, not having gotten much sleep. Shia, more used to putting up a front, didn't let how tired she was register in her face, Ryoma almost matching her in this skill thanks to his pride. Nanjiro noticed, however, though he didn't say a word about it as he passed the toast around to the two Seishun freshmen. Shia looked like she might actually show that she was tired, by falling into her toast, when suddenly the blonde sat strait up, her eyes wide.

"Echizen-san," She said, her voice urgent and excited; "Ryoma and I are going to a pool party on Friday!" Nanjiro raised an eyebrow at his son.

"Don't you mean you're asking if you can go?" He said, somewhat hostily, but only because he wished he could go as well.

"Nien!" Shia said, saying the foreign word before she could stop it, "It's mandatory! For tennis!" Naniro's other eyebrow went up, a look of surprise and confusion covering his face. "Jah! Jah! Buchou said I had to go! And Ryoma has to go because that was part of another girl's dare!" Nanjiro looked stunned for a moment, his perverted mind racing at the possibilities (Author: Sweat drop.) then he shrugged.

"Sure," He said and Shia smiled widely, than thought of something, "I need a swimsuit!" She glanced over at Ryoma slyly, unable to resist the opportunity, "Ryoma-chaaaan, will you go with me to pick out a swimsuit? I'm afraid to go all by myself and I need someone's opinion on what I get. I'm thinking about getting a bikini!" she said, her voice dripping with honey. To her great pleasure, Ryoma turned so red he dropped his fork for an excuse to crawl under the table and hide it. "Just kidding!" Shia said in a sing-song voice, which reminded Nanjiro vaguely of her mother once again. "Nanako, will you go swimsuit shopping with me?"

"Sure!" Nanako grinned, happy to have seen a rare moment when Ryoma couldn't get cocky. His face still red, Ryoma quickly finished his toast and left the table, Shia following behind.

"Don't be such a spoil-sport Ryoma! It was just a joke!" She said, still smiling. He turned around, a bit of anger betrayed in his eyes.

"Why don't you go with Seikaku-san?" He snapped, but then regretted it, seeing the look on Shia's face, neither hurt nor ignorant of what he had said, but still penetrating.

"Why would I?" she asked, her voice on the verge of sounding hurt, although she controlled it for the most part. She shook her head and then turned away, "I don't know what's up with you, but we have to get to our morning practices, come on." She grabbed her school bag and her tennis bag with out another word and headed out the door.

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"Shia! Shia, pay attention!" Christine's voice called and Shia moved to the right just in time to avoid a tennis ball as it whizzed past her head. She didn't get angry with the older girl, but a little bit frustrated with herself for having gotten lost in thought in the first place. Day dreaming was a wonderful thing, but not something to be done during a morning practice.

"What the heck is up with you!" Cara snapped from beside her, shaking her head. "We're about to start a match you know, you can't just space out like that." Shia nodded.

"Sorry," She murmured, "I'm just…"

"Shia, we all have personal lives, but you need to abandon yours on the court if it is a distraction," Kiri's tone was calm and controlled and called for immediate attention. Shia nodded and got ready. They were going to play a doubles match, Shia and Cara against Sharr and Shira. The twins grinned knowingly as each gave a slight tug on the rope that connected them. Shia glanced down at her own rope, which connected her to Cara, not letting her get more than eight feet away at all times.

"Why did they team me up with the rooky anyway?" Cara grumbled to herself and Shia gave such a violent pull on the rope that she stumbled. A small laugh was heard as a girl Shia had never seen before stepped onto the courts.

"You, Cara Mitoshi, are grouped with Shia Raiku because you need to learn to work together as you are both on the same team," The girl's green eyes reminded Shia, as they did many others, of data streams carrying information from place to place. She continued, "Also, Cara, Shia needs to prove herself worthy of her position else you will never accept her and the rest of us will suffer for it, both on and off of the courts." She turned with a slight bow to Raina and Kiri, "Unfortunately, I am late."

"Yes, you are late, Hikaru-san," Kiri sad, her sliver eyes cold, "Mind explaining or would you rather run laps first?"

"Yes, it is regrettable, as I said, but I was quite busy this morning," She said, bowing again, "however, I will still run the laps if you wish."

"She was staring at Inui-sempai again, Kiri-niisan," a higher pitched voice came from a girl behind the fencing and Hikaru frowned. Raina waved to the small girl, who she knew as Kiri's sixth grade sister, who often watched the morning practice before heading to the grade school not too far away. She often served as Kiri's extra eyes off the courts. The younger seemed delighted to catch someone's attention and smiled brightly. Kiri nodded to tell her that she had heard and then turned back to Hikaru.

"Stare? No," the girl scratched her head, "I was merely observing him, hoping to learn new training techniques. I would never simply stare for no reason."

"Except maybe that you lik-" Kiri's younger sister started, but Hikaru sent her a glare that could kill a fluffy kitten (Author cries in the background) and the girl fell silent. Kiri, unaffected by the look, continued as if it never happened.

"Reasons or not, twenty laps should be sufficient. As our manager you need to set a better example."

"Of course," the data girl bowed again and started her laps.

"Need I ask who that was?" Shia said and Cara turned to her with a heavy sigh.

"You don't know anything at all do you?" She sighed, but continued to explain none-the-less, "That was the team manager, eighth grade, Canti Hikaru. You better get to know her if you plan to remain a starter for long." Shia nodded, ignoring the rudeness of the first part of her comment.

"Worry about it later," Kiri ordered, "I don't want her disrupting practice anymore than she already has. You need to start your match." All four girls on the court nodded and the twins smiled again.

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Shira asked through the telepathic bond she shared with her sister. Sharr sent her a feeling of annoyance, symbolized in Shira's mind as a light red, but didn't stop smiling outwardly.

'Of course I am. I always leave all barriers down during a match. We think the same thing,' Sharr said, sending her a few images of past matches they had won this way. Shira sent back a pink that was her amusement and laughter.

'Good,' she grinned, 'I'll need a lot of cooperation if we want to pull this off.'

'You're just a show-off,' Sharr answered her, but her signal was the same pinkish color, only slightly different than Shira's own.

"Ready when you two are," both girls said at once and Cara gave a slight tug on the rope connecting her to Shia. Shia nodded in silent agreement to put aside their arguments until the match was over.

"Shira and Sharr Yuuba VS Cara Mitoshi and Shia Raiku for one set match! Begin!" Kiri yelled from where she sat in the judge's seat. Cara tossed the ball into the air and hit a simple speed serve to the far left corner of the twins' service box. Shira, grinning like a fool, moved to get it, Sharr in perfect unison with her, though staying a few feet behind and to the right, and the rope showed no sign of tangling as Shira hit a flat shot towards Shia. Shia returned it with another flat shot, a perfect imitation of the one Shira had just hit.

Sharr's face was the exact opposite of her sisters, a look of pure relaxation and concentration, as she moved to volley it, approaching the net. Cara moved to return it, but managed to get herself tangled up in the process, so Shia moved for it, merely to be caught in the same trap. The ball bounced in.

"Easy!" Shira laughed, "I like this drill!"

"People hate you more when you plan for things like this to happen to them," Sharr informed her sister, but smiled nonetheless. Her eyes narrowed slightly, "They don't like to be humiliated. It's not their fault they aren't able to know exactly what the other is thinking at all times." Her smile changed to be almost devilish, "They think it is unfair and that we are warped when it is something we cannot help. We are only using our skills, just like they are, but they don't see it that way."

"And people hate it when you get like that," Shira grinned, "You're scaring the seventh graders." Sharr glanced at the few nearby, which were indeed shivering, and shrugged.

"Merely another thing I cannot always help," she sighed, but her face relaxed slightly, at the mental bidding of Shira. Kiri glanced at her watch and sighed.

"A full match will have to wait for another time," she said, "Morning practice is over. Goodbye." Kiri walked off to the girls' locker room without saying anything else to anyone. Raina looked just confused as everyone, not able to get into the head of her best friend. Kiri had so many secrets…

Cara sighed as she got up and untangled herself. "That was pathetic…"

"I know," Shia agreed, following suit. Cara's eyes seemed to ignite.

"We'll just have to beat them another time," she said and Shia looked surprised, then smiled. She hadn't expected to ever see such a look in Cara's eyes, but she respected her more for it.

"Yes, we will," She grinned. Shira smiled to, but for a different reason.

'Mission Success,' she chimed, her colors taking on their general shades of purple and green, the true self she only allowed her sister to glimpse. Sharr smiled and shook her head, her colors coming across in a light blue mixed with gold.

'No matter what people say, you're certainly a snake Shira. A slippery, mischievous snake,' Sharr told her, and Shira laughed.

'You know me too well…'

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'I know I messed up…' Ryoma thought to himself as they walked home after practice that day, 'but I didn't know I screwed up this bad.' Shia still hadn't said more than two words to him. She ignored most things he said entirely and said the bare minimum when she had no other choice but to answer. He didn't realize that she merely had too much on her mind, not that she was still upset. She had almost forgotten it completely. Almost.

It still lingered at the back of her mind, just out of the reach of her thoughts, which were still thinking of the day's events. The doubles match especially hung in her mind. She remembered having seen the Golden Pair, Eiji and Oishi, play a doubles match once when she used to watch their practices and knew they were known as Seishun's best doubles team. She had to wonder what the outcome would be if they played Sharr and Shira, which Cara had starters calling 'Double Trouble'. Shira had found it amusing but Sharr had scowled, though she didn't protest. 'That would be the match of the century,' Shia decided, guessing that even the twins' mental connection would be about equal the genius unison the Golden Pair was known for. She had been about to ask Ryoma when she realized that he knew nothing of the girls' playing skills, so she stayed silent.

"Shia, are you still angry?" He finally gathered the strength to ask and she laughed at him, not meanly, but still laughing.

"No!" She exclaimed as she got over her laughter, "Why would you think that?" Ryoma frowned, embarrassed.

"You… were just really quiet… I thought you might still be upset about this morning," he explained and this time she didn't laugh, simply smiled with that same tortured look in her eyes.

"I'm… not worried about it," She said, closing her eyes quickly so he wouldn't see the look she knew she couldn't keep from appearing in them. "It's really not a problem!" She opened her eyes, avoiding his, and looking instead at the house, which they had finally arrived at. "That reminds me, Nanako and me are going today to get our new swimsuits. She decided that she would get one too, for when summer rolls around." She began to run towards the house. "Hurry up Ryoma!" Ryoma sighed as he started after her, not liking her answer or the way she kept avoiding his eyes. She headed inside, ignoring the fact that he was still walking slowly behind her.

"Hi there," the voice came and Ryoma immediately turned to find its source. Ayashii Seikaku smiled as he watched Ryoma's face darken. "Ryoma, right? We met before, you obviously remember."

"Leave her alone," he said in an icy tone, "I don't know what you did, but she doesn't like you." And neither do I, he resisted saying, "Just leave her alone or---"

"Threats?" Ashi shook his head, his smile never disappearing from his face, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to tell me what you plan to do to me later. I'm the one delivering threats here." He walked past him and, leaning over he whispered into Ryoma's ear, an evil look passing over his face, "Stay out of my way." He walked past and raised a hand in farewell, "Bye bye now." Ryoma didn't say anything, but an annoyed and angry look passed over his face as he headed in the house. He was definitely going to get in Ashi's way now… Only few got away with messing with Ryoma Echizen. And absolutely no one got to mess with Shia, not when Ryoma was there to stop it. He smiled to himself, unable to help it, as he thought, 'I guess I'll just have to be around her from now on…' And he wanted to be.


	10. Chapter 10

Ah, chapter ten. I never thought I would take the story this far, but I have. I'm very thankful to the people who read (Especially those that like it, but the rest are okay too, at least they gave it a chance.) So I say thank you to you.

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Shia said, and Ryoma could tell: she was shaking with anticipation. "The week is finally over! Woohoo"  
"Shia, we shouldn't show up together, they'll suspect something," he warned her and she waved him away.  
"Okay, I get it," she said, "Your dad can drive us and I'll get out a block before the pool and then walk the rest of the way. No problem." Ryoma sighed, he didn't seem to be doing his job of being around her all the time too well, but he knew that was the simplest solution.  
"Alright," he said, nodding. Shia just smiled as she held the bag holding her swimsuit and other stuff. 'A swimsuit I still haven't seen,' Ryoma grumbled to himself. 'For all I know she really does intend to run around in a bikini.' He blushed slightly at the thought, then he imagined a few of his teammates' reactions and began to fume quietly. Then, realizing he was starting to act like Kaido, he mentally slapped himself back into a more Ryoma-like manner. "Come on," he said to Shia, "Dad will take us now"  
"Finally!" Shia grinned like a fool and clutched her bag close to her. "I'm so excited!" 'I'm not…' Ryoma sighed and they headed out, getting into the truck after Nanjiro. As planned Shia got out early and arrived five minutes after Ryoma.  
"Now that everyone's here," Shira said, her smile even brighter than usual, "Why don't we head on inside?" Everyone nodded and muttered their agreement.  
"Wow," Shia said, staring at the large pool before her, "This is really nice…" In a flash Momo had run past her and was the first one into the pool, doing a cannon ball. When he came back up he shook his hair like a dog, grinning like a fox. "Sweeett! It's warm!" He yelled, Shira began to smile even wider than before and even Sharr produced a small grin. Both ran towards the pool, Sharr behind, when Shira suddenly went into a front flip and Sharr followed right after, turning a forward somersault into a backwards flip (If this isn't possible I apologize, but I am gymnastics/acrobatics illiterate.) Christine laughed at the two as they came above water on either side of Momo, then went under again to pull him under by his ankles.  
"This looks too fun to pass up!" She said, jumping near the twins and Momo so she could join in on their fiasco. Just before she could dunk Sharr, however, Shusuke Fuji caught her eye, slender in only his swim trunks, and blushed, giving Shira the opportunity needed to dunk her. She came up coughing and sputtering, her cheeks still red, but now because she was ashamed to have been caught unaware like that. She had moved over to the edge of the pool when a hand was held out to her.  
"Are you alright?" the smiling tensai asked and she took his offered hand with a nod. He pulled her out of the pool and she thanked him breathlessly. "Not a problem," he smiled again, his aqua eyes open for a second, allowing her a peek into their depths. He nodded to her and then moved to talk to Kunimitsu. Most of the people were already in the pool by now, laughing and splashing away. Not one to be kept out of the fun, Christine jumped back in, her golden hair flowing behind her as she dived into the pool. Aine loved the water. She loved the feeling of being weightless, and being able to change the direction of her movements with little more than a flick of her wrist or a small kick of her legs. Most of all she loved the control, the power, the water let her have over her own body. She loved the thought that she could take a small fraction of her strength and make it a great power, make it speed, and feel astonishing as the water rushed over her skin and through her hair, which was long and a midnight black, now that she had let it out of its ponytail. There were things she could do in the water that she wouldn't even attempt anywhere else. Lost in thought, she didn't realize what she was doing before she had run into someone.  
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, not meeting the eyes of the boy she had bumped into. "It's quiet alright," Taka said, blushing a bit, having noticed Aine was wearing a black bikini. Aine didn't know why he was blushing, but she figured she could guess, and, for once, she didn't really care.  
"I was… Lost in thought…" Aine excused herself. Taka looked interested.  
"What were you thinking about?" He asked innocently, Aine didn't answer for a moment, deciding how to word it. Taka took her silence as rejection, "I'm sorry! It's none of my business if you don't want to tell me"  
"No," Aine, shook her head, "It's fine." She thought a moment longer than said, "I was thinking about water… and power… I guess…" Taka looked confused, but didn't get to ask what she meant before Cara pounced on Aine from behind.  
"Hey! Hey! Aine is talking to somebody!" Cara said, her arms still around her neck, "Did ya hear that!" Raina waded over with a sigh.  
"Why are you acting like she's a mute?" She asked, "Honestly, Cara, it's not like you've never heard her talk before"  
"You're right," Cara said, "But this is the most I've ever heard her say at one time…" Aine didn't say anything, but Taka still looked confused so she hoped she could explain herself someday. Cara followed her gaze and smiled at Taka, "You must be somethin' special! Bye!" She moved away to bother someone else, Raina beginning to follow for damage control.  
It wasn't long before Raina abandoned her task, deciding that it was too difficult, even for her. She turned instead to watch over the others quietly from near the edge of the pool. Mostly she watched Oishi though. He swam the length of the pool a lot, and was clearly enjoying himself as he did it. She diverted her eyes, for just a moment, to check on Cara and make sure she wasn't doing anything too awful. She checked on Christine, who was talking to Shusuke again, and everyone else. The twins were making quite a show out of messing with Kaoru and Momo. Whenever it looked like a fight might occur, one of them, Raina couldn't tell which at this distance, tackled one of the boys. She saw Inui was scribbling in his notebook, making everyone near him a little uneasy. She was trying to search out Kiri when she heard someone coming up behind her.  
"You have quite a lively team," the voice came from behind her, but she knew who it was without looking.  
"Yes, but you seem to be in the same situation, Shuichiro," She smiled and he smiled back as she turned around.  
"They just hate to lose," he laughed.  
"Well so do the girls here. I'm afraid that the moment I stop watching them they'll do something stupid…" She said, confiding in him. He just continued to smile.  
"Don't you think, maybe, they earned a few stupid moments tonight?" "I suppose you're right!" She laughed and Oishi's smile widened a bit. He liked it when she laughed. And she laughed for him.  
Cara watched the two for a moment, and couldn't stop smiling. "What are you doing?" Eiji asked from beside her, then noticed what she was looking at and hollered, "Shuichiro's getting' it on!" Cara laughed so hard that she didn't care that he had just ruined their moment as Oishi was now blushing and Raina had become just as subconscious.  
"No, it's not Oishi that's getting it on!" Cara laughed, then kissed Eiji on the lips jokingly, "It's me!" She continued to laugh as she left a stunned Eiji to go talk to Oishi and Raina.  
"They sure seem to be having fun," Shia commented. Ryoma nodded, careful not to look too low and end up staring at her swimsuit. Again. He couldn't help it, he hadn't expected her to get a two piece, especially one as revealing as hers was. She looked good though, he had to admit. "You're not?" he asked, but she just smiled.  
"I'm having more fun then anyone here, I swear," she said, but Ryoma wasn't quite sure, she kept watching everyone, but she wasn't taking part in their fun. He didn't know what, but she seemed to have something on her mind. He didn't say anything; however, she would tell him if she wanted to.  
-  
"What are you doing all alone?" Kiri asked. For once she didn't know what someone was thinking, and couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tired.  
"I'm not alone, you're here," Kunimitsu said quietly, not turning around. He was looking across the street at a small park.  
"You know that's not what I'm talking about," she sighed, the wind blowing the hair to the left and, even in the sweats and jacket she had put on before coming out, she was cold. "Why are you being so strange?" Kunimitsu turned back to her, his eyes blank.  
"I wasn't ready to see you like that again," he said. "In fact I wasn't ready to see you again at all"  
"Kunimitsu…" she said, "We're captains now. We can't afford to let something like this get in the way. You'll be seen as weak"  
"Maybe I'm not as strong as everyone thinks," he told her, "Let's go back inside"  
When they came back in everyone looked to the door, but no one spoke. When Momo looked about to say something about it, Oishi covered his mouth and shook his head. Kunimitsu said nothing, but Kiri turned to her team.  
"Come on, Shira, part two!" she hollered and a few girls cheered, Shira was grinning.  
"Aye-aye, Mon Capitan!" she saluted Kiri in a mocking gesture and got out of the pool. "Okay, everybody out of the pool! We're playin' Truth or Dare!" The boys sweat dropped.


	11. Chapter 11

Hi. Eleventh chapter. Talking in short sentences. No reason for doing so. Read. Please review. Takes a breath. Okay, sorry about that, but, seriously, please review. I like reading reviews! Smiles. Bye.

Not really. First, I have a confession to make. I almost posted this chapter before the tenth one. For some reason it didn't post when I put the tenth on here about a week and a half ago. I just waited a little before actually posting this one. Boy did I feel stupid... Oh, and I like languages a lot, which is why you'll see a lot in this story. I know bits and peices of alot of different languages, but I also get them messed up some times,soI appologize now for any mistakes I may make. Please point them out to me if I do. Bye.

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"Oh! Oh! I wanna start! I wanna!" she exclaimed, her hand waving feverishly. Without waiting for someone to tell her it was okay, "Alright! I dare…" She looked around at the waiting faces; letting the suspense grow a bit, then span the bottle "I dare---"

"Sorry I'm so late; I just got your message, Kiri," Canti Hikaru said as she walked through the door.

"You're always late, Hikaru-san," Kiri said in a monotone.

"I dare Canti!" Shira yelled as the bottle pointed at the data girl and Hikaru looked confused. "Truth or Dare!" Hikaru quickly caught the meaning and moved into a space in the circle they made for her.

"Truth," she said, not trusting what Shira might come up with. Shira's grin widened.

"I want you to tell everyone here your password that you use on the palm-pilot you always carry in your pocket." She told her and Hikaru's face tightened a bit.

"That's a stupid Truth," she said, wasting a little time before she would have to answer.

"Don't waste time, Hikaru, just tell us," Shira said, "besides, we're your friends, we wouldn't break into it just because we know the password."

"I'm supposed to trust the snake of our team?" Hikaru asked, but Shira just smiled, so Hikaru went on, "It's… 'Jamais encore'…" (I'm sorry if I made a mistake.) She smiled, "Except in Japanese."

"That's not fair!" Shira protested, "You can't speak in German!"

"Actually, that was French," Shia corrected her.

"Yes, it was," Inui confirmed, pushing his square glasses farther up his nose, "And I understood it. Most interesting choice of password." He wrote something down in his notebook.

"Translate it then," Sharr said, and Inui nodded.

"Very well, 'nunca otra vez'," he said in Spanish (Again, I'm sorry if I made a mistake.) Ryoma grinned, quickly catching onto the game.

"Or, in English, never again," he said. The twins, not fluent enough to translate it, pouted quietly to themselves.

"My turn," Hikaru said, span the bottle, and then smiled evilly at Ryoma. "You didn't have to translate it into English; most of us here are fluent. Truth or Dare Echizen-san?"

"Dare," Ryoma smiled.

"Alright," she said, her smile slightly twisted. Cara laughed under her breath.  
"Ryoma may not make it through this one…" she chuckled.

"Echizen-san, your dare is to run around this block three times yelling 'The British are coming!' In English, of course."

"And here I thought you'd be forgiving," Ryoma said and headed outside to begin doing his dare. The others laughed from the doorway until he finally came back in, scowling at Hikaru the entire time. He sighed as he sat down and looked around, before spinning the bottle, "Oishi-Senpai, truth or dare?" Oishi looked apprehensive, but answered without even a shudder.

"Dare," he said and Ryoma grinned.

"Oishi-Senpai, your dare…" he thought about it and decided that the Vice captain could use a break and he would save his dare for later, "Is to pick truth from now on." Oishi sighed, while several of the others sounded disappointed and didn't think it was fair. "Oishi-senpai needs a break," Ryoma excused his action and Oishi span the bottle.

"Um, Raina-san, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth," she answered. He sighed, then, unable to think of anything else, asked his question.

"Who do you like?" he asked, and a few people moaned that it was a boring question, but listened for the answer none the less.

"Uh," she blushed slightly, "…you…" Oishi blushed deeper than she did and she spun the bottle. It landed on Kiri.

"Kiri, truth or dare?" Raina asked and Kiri sighed.

"Do you really need to ask?" Raina shook her head. Kiri always choose dare, truth wasn't even an option in her mind. Raina remembered a time when they were younger that Kiri had told her that the truths were never completely true and the only true thing any person could ever say was that they were a liar. Raina had always suspected that it Kiri just didn't want to talk about the past, of the things that happened before she had ever met her.

"Kiri, your dare is to sing a song with Cara as back up," she said, then smiled at Kiri's knowing frown, "And it has to be the one I know you have in your bag." Kiri's eyebrow rose.

"And you know what's in my bag now?" Kiri asked, somewhat skeptically.

"No, not exactly, but I know you came strait here after the extra practice you held for the beginners and that means you have your notebook, which the song is written in," Raina said wisely and Kiri smiled one of her odd smiles.

"It's getting to where you know me too well," she said and Raina returned her smile with one of her own.

"Sad isn't it?" She asked and Kiri went to her back, pulling out a red notebook. She flipped through the pages, passing school work and finally found what she was looking for. She showed the score to Cara, who nodded. It wouldn't be a problem for her, she lived to sing. Kiri settled herself. Cara began to tap the beat and hum, matching the pitches for the background music perfectly, creating a slow, sad melody. (Disclaimer: I did not write the following song, a friend did, but she gave me permission to put it here, as long as I didn't tell who actually wrote it. I like it, but you are free to your own opinion.)

"Your touch, I never knew I'd miss it this much," Kiri began, her voice as soft and heartrending as the music Cara created for her, "Waiting for you to come back Is like a never-ending heart attack.

"Your smile, your laugh, that you only showed me, they're the only working remedy.

"They all think I'm happy, they see me smiling. They take comfort in what they don't see, 'cause they can't see me crying.

"At midnight, I'm still awake; the pain is more than I can take. "Your smile, your laugh, that you only showed me, they're the only working remedy--" She held the word 'remedy' a bit longer and then Cara suddenly changed the music to a steadier beat, Kiri changing her voice to match it, "But I gotta be strong! And be tough! I can do no wrong! And good's never been good enough!

"I'm not alone, the time's right. Baby, sometimes the only answer is to rock all night!

"No time to waste, no time to kill. Time can't be erased, but, Baby, just don't let it ever stand still!

"I need to be strong! And stand tall! I can do no wrong! The world's so big: I can't afford to be so small!

"Oh, I gotta be strong! And be tough! I can do no wrong! Oh, goods never been good enough! Yeah!

"Oh oh!"

"Ooo ooo," Cara sang the notes easily.

"Oh oh!"

"Ooo ooo."

"Oh oh! Yeah! Cause I gotta stand strong!" Kiri ended the song and immediately went back to her normal expression as many people clapped. She glared at Raina the entire time as she sat back down, but Cara was grinning and Raina didn't seem to mind the glare as much as she normally would. Kiri spun the bottle, willing it to land on Raina. It didn't listen, and it landed on Sharr.

"Sharr, truth or dare?" Sharr glanced at her sister.

'You think we should?' she asked telepathically.

'Yes,' Shira answered, nodding to confirm it.

"Partner," Sharr said. Momo looked confused.

"What is partner? I've never heard of that." He asked.

"It's where you take a dare, but you can have someone else do it with you," Christine explained. "I'd never heard of it before, but Kiri's sister was sayin' somethin' about it a few days ago."

"My partner is Shira," Sharr said and Cara muttered something about 'what a surprise…'

"Sharr, Shira," Kiri said, "Your partner dare is to go to school dressed as Bonnie and Clyde." Kiri's face remained blank as many of the others began to laugh and Sharr and Shira stared at their captain with a look of surprise and terror. They couldn't believe Kiri, their wonderfully serious captain, would say such a thing. With that same look of fear on her face, Sharr spun the bottle.

"Tezuka-senpai," She said, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I…" Sharr seemed hesitant, "I dare you to tell us what happened between you and Kiri." Everything was still for a moment, no one daring to move, as all eyes were on Kiri and Kunimitsu. It wasn't clear what either one's next action would be.

She didn't let it show in her complexion, but it took all Kiri had to keep calm. She wanted to stand up and yell like a child would that that hadn't been fair, that she shouldn't have to suffer. She didn't, but she wanted to. She wanted to stand up, grab her bag and leave. She wanted to be someplace else, anywhere but here.

Kunimitsu knew all too well what thoughts were racing through her head, as the same kind of thoughts ran through his own. He was tempted to use the language trick they had used earlier. Would anyone here recognize Dutch? He figured Inui would know some, and he wasn't sure about Canti, so decided against it. It seemed too cheap anyway.

"We dated, we broke up, end of story," Said Kunimitsu, after a little thought. This seemed easiest. No one could say he was lying, but he wouldn't have to tell everything and Kiri wouldn't lose it. He wouldn't lose it. Sharr looked disappointed, but didn't linger over it. She had known he would dodge her real reasoning anyway, but she had hoped he would let a little bit more slip out of the vault of his memory. He spun the bottle.

Momo. Momo was made to drink a bottle of Inui juice. The bottle began to spin again. Kaoru. After an embarrassed Kaoru had confessed his undying love to a lamppost, the bottle was spun again. After many more dares and a few startling, and slightly disturbing, truths, the bottle finally landed on Shia.

"Alright, Kiddo," Christine, whose turn it was, said, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"So predictable," sighed Christine, "I dare you to answer a truth." Shia frowned.

"Shoot," she said, faking self-assurance, but Ryoma knew she was nervous. With good reason.

"Shia, what is your biggest secret? The thing you've never told anyone?" Christine asked, seemingly innocent in her question. Kiri hid a twisted smile behind her hand. How will you answer this one, Shia?

"Well---" Shia started, but was cut off as the door opened.

"Hi there, Shia," The familiar voice and greeting made Shia stop in mid-sentence.

"Ashi-san," she uttered, "… Hello…" Ashi smiled at Shia and then turned to Ryoma.

"Hiya, Ryoma, good to see you again," He smiled, raising a hand. Ryoma didn't return the gesture, but rather continued to glare at him. This could not be good.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve! I'm so excited! Ohh! Ohh! Okay, before I get too excited and I can't type, there is a bonus chapter at the end of this chapter. I'm not quite sure why I added it as a bonus chapter because it ties in with the story. (Opps, blew it.) Anyway, don't just brush through it like you do this author's note. I worked hard and I think it is pretty good. Actually, after I finish this series I was thinking about doing a sequel (Actually, I'm not sure what to call it, as most of it will happen before this) all about Kiri and her life. I think that would be really fun because Kiri is one of my favorite original characters in this story. Tell me what you think! Okay, too excited to type more. Bye!

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"Excuse me?" Shira said, her sister backing her up, "We're not open, how did you get in here?"

"Hmm?" Ashi asked, "Oh, through the door. How else?" He smiled in his picturesque way, but Sharr wasn't fooled.

"We're closed, it says so on the door," she said, "You couldn't have missed it if you came through the front door."

"A little birdie told me the Seishun regulars were having a pool party, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!" he said, carelessly.

"Opportunity?" Oishi questioned. Ashi laughed, covering his mouth politely as he did so.

"Terribly sorry, you couldn't know, I haven't even introduced myself," He bowed elegantly and Ryoma was reminded of one of the reasons he hated him so much. "My name is Ayashi Seikaku, and I am a regular at Kakinokizaka East Junior High." (Note: The school was chosen at random. I was looking for a random one in the fourth manga volume and that was the first one I saw. Destiny! (Just kidding))

"I know that school!" Momo said, pointing at Ashi, "One of your regulars got all uptight with An Tachibana and Sakuno because of his shoes."

"Him?" Ashi asked, "Oh, I replaced him. I just moved back here."

"Good," Momo nodded, "I didn't like him, he was an idiot."

"I agree," Ashi nodded as well, folding his arms as he did so.

"And, back to why you're here…" Cara sweat dropped. Ashi unfolded his arms, slamming his fist into his open palm.

"Ah yes!" he exclaimed, "Of course!" He smiled, "I'm here to spy on Seishun!" He glanced at Shia. "And I wanted to see Shia in a bathing suit," he admitted. Shia blushed and self consciously pulled her towel around her.

"So you're a sneaky pervert?" Christine inquired, "What are you, Kiyosumi Sengoku?" Ashi laughed and snapped his fingers.

"Only half right! You don't get a prize for that!" he smiled, waving his finger at her, "I'm _Ayashi Seikaku, _remember? Besides, I've seen her in a swimsuit before, I just wanted to--"

"That's enough," Ryoma said, authority carried in his young voice. Ashi's facade dropped.

"The little man is going to give me orders, is he?" he asked, smiling in an odd way, "Can you live up to previous threats, eh?"

"You'll see just how well I live up to them if you cross the boundaries," Ryoma smirked and Ashi laughed.

"You know, I planned to stick around longer, but I think I'll leave the job half done and leave a message as well," he turned to walkout, but raised a hand to shake his index finger at Ryoma over his shoulder. "Wo bu mi, Ryoma-kun." He walked out without another word and Ryoma quickly translated the Chinese (Is it really? I think so…) in his head, '_I shall not waver_?' He didn't like it.

"Er…" Shira said, "That was really… Interesting…"

"How do you know kids from another school, Shia?" Sharr asked.

"She had to come from _somewhere, _meaning another school," Cara put in. Shia shook her head.

"I never went to school with Ashi," She said, "I was really young then, not even in kindergarten."

"Then how do you know him?" Oishi asked curiously.

"We lived in the same prefecture as kids and he's only a year older then me so we played a lot. He taught me everything I know." There was a slightly stunned silence, Shia continued, "That includes being a copycat."

"So, he can do things after only seeing them once?" Momo asked the obvious question and Shia nodded, but then shook her head.

"He's actually better then I am. I've seen him do moves he has never even seen, just heard about," she said.

"And now he wants to play Ryoma?" Christine asked, "How come we never get challenged by good rivals like that!"

"Don't kid yourself," Kiri warned, "We have plenty of worthy rivals this year." Ryoma ignored them as the girls, minus Shia, talked about previous seasons and the upcoming one. He turned to her.

"Did he teach you the Devil's Serve?" he asked and Cara's ears perked up.

"That stupid move!" She snapped, "He can't do _that_, can he!" Shia shook her head and Cara sighed.

"No, he showed me how, but he said that it put too much strain on his arm," Shia said. Taka looked confused.

"But wouldn't it put the same amount of strain on your arm?" he asked. Shia smiled warily.

"No," she said, then strived for the right words, "My bone structure is… Different… I don't feel the strain at all. It doesn't affect me." Kiri looked at her with cold silvery eyes and then shook her head. Shia looked confused at the gesture. "Do you think I would purposely do something that will hurt me in the end?" she asked.

Kiri didn't continue on the subject. "It is about time for everyone to go," she said, indicating the clock behind her, which read 10:30. "I don't think I need to remind the girls, but we do have a tournament next weekend. Extra practices will be held tomorrow morning and on Sunday. The starters will be required an extra hour of practice in after school sessions and an extra half an hour to morning practices. Friday will be an easy day, only an hour of practice after school and an hour before. Now go home and get some sleep." No one moved for a moment. Then Sharr and Shira threw Shia into the pool, seemingly to signify that the night was over. Soon everyone had said their goodbyes and the night was really over, as Nanjiro picked Ryoma and Shia up, doing a beautiful job of acting like it was just a good deed. The girls' team initiation dares were finally over and done with.

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Bonus Chapter: Skin and Bones

She put her entire being into those final moments, her last breath being one of relief. It was a release of everything that had happened before. If this was dieing then it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone said it was. There was no pain. Actually, there was a lot of pain, terrible, physical pain, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. She had dealt with pain all of her life. The pain of an empty stomach, and the bruises where the other street kids had beaten her. The pain she felt in her joints, which seemed overly large, surrounded by her twig-like arms, where the muscles had deteriorated from the lack of food. Then there were the scratches she had gained over things as small as half a piece of bread. It hadn't been enough, she was going to die. Somehow this didn't seem so terrible. This life on the streets was her torment, and death seemed the only possible salvation.

That was when she heard it. On the brink of death the sound reached her ears as music, though she didn't know why, or what it really was. Thwack. Here, in the lowest point of her life, she heard it, like the chime of a small bell, pleasing to her mind and almost soothing. Thwack. And what a strange noise. Thwack. She didn't know what it could be, but it intrigued her, enough for her to raise herself up enough to crawl, for walking was not even an option, in the direction of the resonance. Thwack.

She reached a fence and pulled herself up, her muscle-lacking arms shaking with effort it took to raise her body, even though it was so small. She stood, leaning primarily on the fencing, with her petite legs quivering with the strain of holding up her own body. How had she gotten like this? She was intelligent; she knew the thoughts of those around her as well as she knew her own. Why hadn't she used that to her advantage, to get more food, to win more of the fights? There was no answer for her then, and it didn't matter. It didn't matter _how _she had gotten there, she was there. All that mattered right then was what she saw before her, it was among the most amazing things she had ever seen.

There was a full grown man standing inside the fencing, holding something oval with a handle and strings. _Racket_. She had heard the word before, but not seen one before now. He swung this _racket_ and hit a small round ball across a low net. There was a boy to, holding the same kind of _racket _and was hitting the ball, though not as hard as the man. None of this was the most amazing thing to her, however. It was the fact that they were _playing together_, this man and this boy, and smiling. She had never seen a man beam at a child like that, or a child return the look. She had never seen them look so sincere. So _alive_. That was when he looked her way, the boy.

"Look," He pointed at her, and the man caught the ball and followed the direction he was pointing until he saw her. He muttered something, covering his mouth as he did so and she realized just dead she must have looked to these living people. Of course, she was a breathing corpse, how could she look any different? These people breathed and had lives, not only living to survive but living for others, for happiness. For love. What is love? Something in her mind asked, and she didn't have an answer.

They came to her before she realized, before she could run. That was a laughable thought, being able to run from these people when she had to grip the fencing just to stand? Not possible. Not in the least. The boy looked only to be a few years older then her. He looked at her in wonder through the fence, pointing to her, and then to himself. He shook his head, the differences were too great. They couldn't be the same.

"Who are you?" He asked, "Why do you stand there and watch? Why don't you play with your parents?" Parents? The word was new to the girl, she didn't understand. The man put a finger to his lips and the boy was silenced.

"Are you lost?" He asked, but she was too afraid to answer. He tried something else, "Can you understand? Do you speak?" She nodded the first time and then, quietly, answered 'yes'. He repeated his first question, "Are you lost?"

"No." He hadn't thought so, and the girl knew it. She asked her another question.

"Where did you come from?" She pointed behind her, to the street. He had already known that to. "Where are you going?" She didn't think about it. She didn't have to. She pointed upward. He understood. "Do you want to go?" he asked. She nodded. And then she shook her head.

"No." She didn't want to go there, not yet. She was only five; after all, it wasn't her time yet. She had just wanted to escape pandemonium. She wanted to escape the streets, her cemetery, where she was already being buried alive. "Not yet." He smiled, this was the answer he had wanted and it was the most he had gotten her to say so far.

"What is your name?" he asked. This was a curveball. What was her name? She hadn't used it in so long; no one had been there to call her it. What was it again? Was it long or short? Was it odd or did it fit her perfectly? She couldn't remember.

"I don't know," She answered truthfully. The man didn't seem too surprised.

"Do you want something to eat? Will you come with us and be safe?" he asked and she nodded. She couldn't resist when he mentioned food, all of her normal habits of being untrusting disappeared. This man could feed her. This man probably had shelter for her. This man had a young boy she could play with. She could try and use this _racket_ and get _good _at it. It would feel wonderful to be good at something again. She nodded, and was crying before she knew it.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," She continued it like the most sacred of chants, as if it possessed a magic all its own, because, in a way, it did. "Yes, yes, yes, yes…" The man smiled, came out from the inside of the fencing and picked her slight, frail body up in one powerful arm, the boy holding onto the other hand, and she fell asleep there. It had never felt so good to sleep and she had never fallen asleep with such certainty that she would be able to wake up again.

This was a new life for her. She would grow, attend a normal school, and prove her intellect. Countless doctors were amazed at the way she would come back from the brink of death and still have all of her intelligence which should have, by all means, deteriorated over the years she had spent starving in the streets. She would still have to go to physical therepy twice a week, but she would be much closer to normal. She would indeed become good at tennis, with the help of her adopted father, Aiyoshi and her older brother Hiroyuki, winning her first tournament at age six. She would never lose her street smarts and the ability to analyze people. Her sense of knowing what others were thinking would only grow over the course of her life. She would become strong, she would become talented, and she would become quick. Most of all, however, she would become Kiri Yamatashi, captain of the girls team at Seishun Gakuen Middle School.

"Kiri?" Raina asked, as the other girl leaned over her own desk, scribbling notes on that day's practice. Kiri made a small noise to let her know she had heard and Raina went on, "You know that seventh grader, Shia Raiku? The one that keeps watching the boys practice?" She made the small noise again, "She reminds me of you." Kiri looked up, her eyes emotionless.

"Like me?" She asked, then looked out the window, her twisted, odd smile coming to her face, "Hmm. Yes, just a little…" A week and a half later Shia Raiku would become the first seventh grade starter for the girls' team in nearly three years. Yes, they were very alike. More, perhaps, than even Kiri herself realized.

Bonus Chapter: Skin and Bones

End


	13. Chapter 13

Well, it's that time again. No, it's not Christmas! It's the time that happens every time I post a new chapter. I bore you all with this annoying little author's note that no one really reads. It doesn't bother me, though, I don't care about whether people pay attention to my ramblings or not, it's the story that is important to me and the reason I write this author's note every time. I don't enjoy it, but it needs to be done. So, if anyone is reading this, I'm sorry it took me so long to post this chapter and, for those that review, please tell me what you think about the sequel I plan to make. I'm excited about writing it, but I don't plan to let it effect my finishing this one properly. I don't know when this will end anyway, but I don't see it happening all that soon. Still, tell me what you think about a sequel (Or perhaps it is a prequel, since most of it takes place before Shia's time) about Kiri and her life. I think it will be interesting. As always, please review, I love reading the reviews.

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It was time. Cara let out a breath, and then quickly sucked more air in. She closed her eyes, concentrated on the task ahead and then opened her eyes again, set, determined. She began to hum as she glanced to her partner, Aine. Aine nodded; her face emotionless. They walked out onto the courts.

"First match, Number two doubles to the net!" The announcer blared, and Cara and Aine did so, shaking hands with their competition. "Seishun-- Safflower, Mitoshi pair. Murotoseigaoka-- Gakio, Shinzo pair." (Another random team, but, yes, it is a real one that I found browsing through the manga (Volume 7, Page 172.1, the bracket sheet)) Cara picked up on her humming, beginning the song 'Freckles'. (Disclaimer- don't own song. DDR, I think, there's a different version in Rurouni Kenshin to.) Gakio sneered at her while her partner seemed more interested in Aine.

"Why are you so serious? Scared?" she asked, "Trying to hide fear, maybe?" Aine tipped her head slightly to one side and blinking once. "Playing innocent!" Shinzo laughed out loud, "Too cute! I can't believe you're a Seishun starter!"

"Come on, Aine," Cara said and her sempai followed her to the baseline, Shinzo's laughter followed.

"The best of one set match! Seishun's Safflower Aine to serve!" The referee announced and Cara promptly passed the game ball to her partner. Aine's face stayed straight as she bounced the neon ball once, then twice. A third time the ball came up to her hand and she tossed it up into the air. She served it without making a sound and Shinzo moved to return it. At the last moment the ball curved in mid-air and Shinzo missed. "15-love!"

"Liquid serve," Aine said simply and the Murotoseigaoka pair looked stunned. Cara smiled.

'She doesn't give any outward signs, but she hates it when they underestimate her. Interesting.' she thought to herself and Kiri nodded from the bench. Cara turned to Aine with the smile still on her face, "Let's finish this quick."

"W-what is she!" Shinzo asked, but her captain only smiled.

"Oh, that's right; you're both new aren't you?" She asked, clearly amused, "That is Aine Safflower, a ninth grader at Seishun and a real genius when it comes to serves. At last count there were 154 in her arsenal."

"1-154!" Gakio exclaimed, only to hear laughter coming for behind her. On the other side of the fence Canti couldn't seem to control herself.

"Those are last year's numbers," she informed them when she had finally settled, "_Now _she's at 206. You need to keep up." The two players looked half amazed and half in terror as they turned back to face a still solemn Aine, who was once again bouncing the ball. The game would end 6-love, with the Murotoseigaoka girls never scoring a point.

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'I'm going to kill Canti. I'm going to kill Canti, I'm going to-' Shia continued the chant in her head as she leaned back against the hard wooden bench, watching the twins dominate completely in number one doubles. 'Kill, kill, kill-' Yes, she was a reserve. She couldn't stand knowing that they were all getting to play but her, even if she had gone through _years_ when all she could do was watch. Kiri gave her a disapproving look and she sat up, forcing herself to think of something other then killing Canti. She knew it was probably her body language that Kiri disapproved of, but it never hurt to be careful when your captain was like Kiri Yamatashi.

'There's a good reason for it,' she assured herself, 'Canti is a real genius, she wouldn't do anything out of spite or on a whim.' Still, she had trouble not thinking of all the ways she could get back at her sempai. She soon saw why when, after the twins had won, 6-0, not Christine or Raina, but Kiri stepped onto the court. They were going to finish it quickly. Very quickly.

Shia hadn't realized before that she had never seen Kiri play. 'She's the captain,' Shia reasoned, 'so obviously she's the best, but maybe it's just because she's been a starter longest?' Shia shook her head, 'No, this is _Seishun_; that kind of hierarchy doesn't matter here.' Shia observed the crowd, it had gone silent the moment Kiri had picked up her racket. 'And her opponent?' She was shaking; it was obvious that she was unnerved at the unexpected turn which left her facing Seishun's captain. Shia could almost hear her thoughts, 'Why! Why couldn't I have just played the seventh grader!' Shia smirked, knowing that she wouldn't have gone easy on her anyway. Kiri seemed to know her opponent's thoughts as well, as she steadily shook her hand and the judge announced the names of the players.

Kiri smiled in her strange way, which was clearly the only way she knew, in a sad attempt to lighten the player's mood, but succeeded only in making her shake harder. Kiri shrugged; apparently she didn't care enough to try more than once. She turned, moving to the baseline, and bounced the ball twice before serving. Shia hardly saw it. In fact, she probably wouldn't have seen the ball at all if she hadn't been able to use her photographic memory to play it again and again, searching for the ball's path. 'If it's this hard for me,' she realized, 'then that poor girl must have no idea what just happened.' The judge seemed to be in the same predicament, hesitating before calling out the score as 15-love. Kiri didn't slow her pace, the first game ended as a rain of aces; the Murotoseigaoka girl had no chance.

"Amazing," Cara muttered, "No matter how many times I see it, it never fails to amaze me."

"This isn't all that much," Raina reminded her, "Not for Kiri. We hardly get to see anything of Kiri's skill anymore. She holds it all back." Canti sighed.

"Ninety-two percent chance all of Kiri's serves this game will be aces, eighty-nine percent chance she will break her opponents serve every time," she said, her data-green eyes glazed over slightly, "two percent chance of the opponent getting a point of her, and ninety-five percent chance that this match will end in…" she glanced at her watch, "one minute and fifteen seconds." True to her predictions, the match ended in little over a minute (nobody timed to be sure, but they all knew Canti was right on the fifteen seconds part) and her opponent had failed to score even one point against Kiri. Seishun was on to the next round.

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"Umm, sooo…" for once she couldn't think of anything to say. Shira grinned through the upstairs window. It was about time she got to see this: Sharr actually struggling with something. She thought about sending her sister some advice, but Sharr had put a wall up between their minds and there was no penetrating it. Shira decided that that might actually work in her best interest; she could tail her without her knowing she was there by her thoughts. She turned back to the window, happy to see that they hadn't left while she was deep in thought.

"Look," Momo was saying, "I'm not sure where to go, so why don't you choose?" Shira knew immediately what her sister would say and was almost tempted to say it with her.

"Ice skating!" She exclaimed, looking much like a small child, "Can we go ice skating?" Momo blushed slightly, avoiding her eyes.

"I-I don't see why not…" he said and Sharr smiled.

'Bravo,' Shira thought, 'you're getting her to show her true colors.' She glanced across the room at Sharr's bed, which was hardly visible under a mess of stuffed animals. (That's right folks; Sharr is the girly one at heart, whereas Shira is scheming, remember?) She wanted to laugh again, any one walking in would think that was her bed, and the plain one with only one old rabbit was Sharr's. Just shows what they knew. She turned back to the window, then a shocked look passed over her face, Momo had his bike! What was worse, Sharr was getting on the pegs! Sharr hated bicycles, so neither of them even had one! 'How did he convince her to ride with him? More importantly, _how will I keep up!_' her mind was in a frenzy, and she took off down the stairs, and was out the front door before Momo even got onto the bike.

"Hi!" she said, smiling, "You guys are going into town, right? Can I come with you that far? I need to pick something up for mom." Sharr looked suspicious, but Momo grinned.

"Sure," he said, "but that means we'll have to walk, I can't fit all three of us on this bike." Shira smiled.

"I really hope that doesn't make me a burden," she said innocently.

"No," Sharr replied quickly, "That's alright. I, at least, don't mind walking."

"It's okay with me," Momo assured her.

'Thank you,' Sharr said, her colors a mix of light pastels symbolizing her gratitude. She hadn't wanted on the bike after all. Shira had figured as much.

'Anything at all for you, dear sister,' Shira said, careful to send only sincere colors in her sister's direction as they headed into town.

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Bonus Chapter: Data Eyes

"If you just--" someone pushed her out of the way. "If you--" another shove to quiet her. It was enough, she understood. They weren't going to listen to her, not with her being so young. Still, she wasn't one to give up and approached the tennis player again. "Listen," she said, "I watched you warm up for your next match and I think that if you adjusted your--" The player sighed and pushed her hard on the shoulders.

"Look," she said, "I'm not gonna take no crap from a grade schooler about my playing style! You don't know nothin', kid, nothin'," she said, "Now get lost!" The girl looked like she might strike the younger girl, but at that moment someone intervened.

"Stop that," the team captain's voice was as commanding as any the girl had ever heard. This was her hero; this was the person she wanted to play tennis under someday, when she got into middle school; the great captain of Gyokurin Junior High's tennis team. She was looking out for her now, this was a dream come true. The captain continued lecturing her player, "If you had actually hit her, you might have been called on it, forcing up out of the tournament." She turned to the girl, who had frozen. _She doesn't really care about my well-being… _"Leave my players alone, you half-pint distraction." She struggled to move for a moment and then ran, tears shining in her eyes.

She hadn't calculated this. She had looked kept everything else at face-value, but her emotions had gotten the better of her this time. She had been so sure that the captain was as great a person as she was a player, a fatal miscalculation. _I've been a fool_, she realized, the small fifth graders shoulders still shaking even as she tried to wipe the tears away. She knew very well that tears wouldn't make it better; they would only make it worse in fact, seeing the situation. She tried to force herself to stop, with mixed results. Her eyes still red, she headed to wear the players warmed up.

The practice courts nearly empty except for two girls, who were hitting a ball back and forth in a fast, but steady rhythm. As she always did, the girl analyzed the situation and the players with her deep green eyes, so rare in Japan. _94 percent chance the smaller girl will miss if she doesn't twist her feet._ She didn't want her to miss, the rally was intriguing, so she shouted out her advice.

The girl glanced at her once and then executed the advice just in time to return the ball at a higher velocity than before. Her partner, as if through some unknown communication, caught the ball, and the girl didn't even glance at her before heading towards the grade school girl.

"Thank you," she said a smile on her face. At least, it seemed to be a smile, the young girl could never really explain it, but it was somehow… twisted. "For the advice."

She was truly amazed now. Not only had this older player executed her advice, she had credited her on it by thanking her. She was definitely not an average player. The girl muttered 'you're welcome' and watched as the older girl walked past her and towards the playing courts.

"Yes thank you," her partner said, walking up with her racket over her shoulder, "Kiri seems too good sometimes; it's good to see her get corrected." She didn't seem to notice, or care, about the girl's age affecting the matter.

"You're welcome," she said, then thought, _Kiri_, glad to have a name to go along with the strange character. Then she thought about it, that girl, Kiri, couldn't have been older than seventh grade. Seventh graders simply weren't in a position to go to the playing courts or use the practice courts. "Where was she going?"

"Hmm? Oh, she's playing in the number one singles match," she said, chuckling, "Rare to see a seventh grade starter, eh?" The girl was dumbstruck, this simply wasn't done. She forced herself to recover, as the older girl continued. "Hey, I just thought of something! We play for Seishun and the team needs a manager, are you interested?"

"Do you have the authority to give a fifth grader that job?" the girl asked, skeptic.

"'Never let someone despise you for your youth.' I'm Nira Shinta, the captain of Seishun's tennis team; I believe that gives me the power to volunteer anyone I want for that job. You've got Data Eyes, kid, I've seen 'em before," she said, raising her chin, and holding her hand out for the girl to shake. "Now, what's your name, Manager?"

The girl smiled wider then she had in some time, lifting her chin to show her own pride, and took the captain's hand in confidence, shaking it, "I'm Canti. My name is Canti Hikaru."


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, sooooo... Chapter fourteen! Yay! Heheheh, I'm sorry it always takes me so long to post chapters, and that they're kinda short. I hate excuses, so I won't make any, but I'm glad that people still read my story nonetheless. Thanks to all y'all out there! (Even if there's only a few, that's progress!)

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'How many hamburgers can he eat!' Shira thought, exasperated, as she watched Momo and Sharr in a burger place after ice skating. That had been quite an adventure, watching Sharr scare little children when she was serious, and then having Momo immediately cheer her up by falling on the ice. It had almost been humorous; watching the 'powerhouse' of the guys' tennis team having one of the youngest on the girls' team skate circles around him. Momo's lack of grace on the ice was enough to make Sharr laugh childishly, a sight odd, even from Shira's perspective.

'21, 22,' Shira finally gave up trying to count all of the hamburgers he ate. He still seemed like he was going strong when he suddenly stopped and looked into Sharr's eyes.

"If you're ready to go, we can leave," he said, looking sincere. Sharr smiled and shook her head.

"I've waited for you for two years now, I can wait a little longer," she said, blushing slightly as she said it. Momo blushed even harder, and gently grabbed her hand, helping her to rise from the booth.

"Come on," he said, and she followed him with her smile still on her face. Shira's mouth dropped open as Momo walked out with her, heading towards his bike. Once again, she was in trouble. There was no way she could keep up, and she couldn't beat them home because the bus didn't run to their house.

She sighed, 'Someone is plotting against me today…'

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"Kiri Yamatashi?" the voice seemed familiar even as Kiri turned to see who had said her name. The smiling face that greeted her seemed familiar as well. She quickly placed them.

"Ales?" she asked, mildly surprised, though she didn't show it. After all, she was in the middle of a practice, trying to use the day between tournament days as well as she could. If she wasn't as surprised, she normally would have resented the interruption. Raina told the others keep working.

"I had hoped it was you," Ales grinned, "You've gotten a lot taller."

"So have you," Kiri nodded, "Quomodo? (How?)" Ales understood the question immediately, and quickly shifted to Latin as well.

"Res adhuc iters celer in ille vias (News still travels fast on the streets)," she shrugged, "Ille alter haedus's fundare extra qui tu did, et conatus ad exemplum tu. (The other kids found out what you did, and tried to copy you.) I was one of the lucky ones." She finished in Japanese, for lack of proper words in Latin.

"Probus pro tu. (Good for you.)"

"Ille notio was indoles. (The idea was genius.)"

"I did non egere ad mori (I did not want to die)," Kiri said simply, doubting Ales would really understand. Ales had been the one other street kid Kiri had worked with. Even then, the time was short, but it was more then Kiri had shared with anyone else. She and Ales had a bond, created by the hardships of the streets. Kiri had, in fact, talked to Ales one other time since the days on the streets. It was merely a passing on the street, but it was not long after Kiri had found her home and they recognized each other. She had given Ales her name, the one she hadn't been able to give her when they met, and Ales said one word, 'Latin', before hurrying away. Kiri had been right to assume she would need to learn the dead language.

Kiri glanced at her watch. She had been careless and it was now time to go. "Practice is over," she announced and walked away, Ales following. The remaining starters rushed to Canti.

"What were they talking about!" Cara demanded to know.

"I…" Canti thought for a moment, "I didn't understand…"

"What do you mean?" Christine frowned, "I recognized it as Latin. You studied that, didn't you?"

"Yes," Canti said, "Yes, I did. Let me rephrase myself: I didn't understand what they were talking about."

"What was it?" Shira asked, eagerly. Canti quoted the conversation for the others.

"… And then Kiri said 'I did not want to die'," Canti finished and the others looked stunned.

"You don't think…" Christine started, "That Kiri is actually a hit man… Er, woman… for a street gang of children?"

"That must be it!" Cara agreed.

"Don't be stupid," Canti said, "That's not possible, right Raina?" The assistant-captain sighed.

"It's not likely, but…" She paused, "… To tell you the truth I don't know anything about Kiri's life before fifth grade. She just doesn't talk about herself."

"With good reason!" Christine exclaimed, "She might let something slip!"

"And then there's how she always seems to know what you're thinking! That's creepy, you know!" Shira said, getting sucked into the excitement.

"Maybe they teach that in the street gang!" Sharr suggested, following her sister's lead.

"You know, it's all starting to seem possible…" Canti murmured. "We don't know anything about Kiri, even those of us who have known her for years have been kept at distance. Yet this girl comes and they… connect, I guess."

"I don't want to believe it, but…" Raina started.

"…It might just be true." Shia finished, and Aine nodded silently.

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"Where are you going?" Ales asked, following two steps behind Kiri.

"Where are you following me?" Kiri asked, not turning around. Ales shook her head, seeing that some things never changed. She thought back to when they met. In fact, it was a lot like what they were doing now. Kiri had had food that day, and had just put the last crumb in her mouth when Ales approached. Ales introduced herself, only to be ignored as Kiri walked on, giving her no more then a glance. Ales followed, telling her the proposal she had cooked up. It was logical, two people look together, there is twice as good a chance that they could find some scraps. Just when she was starting to think Kiri might be deaf or mute, she spoke to her for the first time. She told her that even if they found food more often two mouths were harder to feed then one. 'Yes, but we could find food more often,' she had pointed out. Kiri, of course, had already thought about this, and still preferred to work alone. Ales never knew why, then, Kiri turned around and looked her straight in the eyes. She never said it, but Ales knew that she was saying that she excepted the proposal.

'Where are you going?'

'Where are you following me?' She remembered that they had said those same things every day, without fail. Kiri, as expected, found food every day. More than once, Ales wondered why Kiri kept her around. Then there was that day…

"If you're following me, you need to keep up," Kiri's voice brought her back to the real world and she picked up her pace.

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"Alright, Operation A: Trail Kiri-Buchou," Canti said, "We can't all stay grouped up like this, we'd attract too much attention. If Kiri only sees one of us, she might let it pass as coincidence. Remember not to think about it!"

"Got it!" the girls exclaimed and split up, trailing Kiri and Ales from a distance. It soon became clear that the destination was a large house, a little ways away from the city and off the main road. The outer stone wall served as cover as the peeked around it, watching Kiri and Ales walk inside.

"Kiri is already home," a voice said from behind them. Many whirled around, then sighed heavily as they realized it was Kiri's younger sister. "If you need to see Kiri, she just went inside with a friend of hers." She looked the Raina and smiled, "I've never seen Kiri invite a friend over before, not even you!" The girl seemed to find this amusing, and they could all tell that this was certainly Kiri's sister.

"It's true," Raina mumbled, "She's always comes over to my place, ever since we first became friends."

"Hey, Kiri's-little-sister!" Christine smiled, then got serious, "Don't tell Kiri we're here, okay? We're on a mission."

"My name's not 'Kiri's-little-sister'," she pouted, "It's Sachi."

"Of course," Shira soothed her, "but you won't tell Kiri, right, Sachi?"

"Fine," Sachi agreed, looking at the older girl with admiration. Shira smiled.

"Thank you so much, Sachi," Shira patted the girl's head without making her seem inferior. "I knew we could trust you! Now…" she gained a serious expression. "What can you tell us about Kiri?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you know about her past?"

"Kiri is… Kiri," the younger girl said, "I don't understand what you want to know." Sharr stepped in.

"There is a chance your sister isn't who we all know her to be," she informed to sixth grader. Sachi's eyes widened.

"Come with me!" she said, and darted around the corner. Moving some vines away from the old wall, she revealed a trap door. "The previous owners installed this. Come on!"

"Wait, you haven't always lived here?" Canti asked, "I have no record on Kiri living anywhere except Tokyo."

"We moved here when I was two," Sachi confirmed, "Daddy told me so." She stomped her foot impatiently, "Now come on!" The other girls followed without another word and Sachi led them to what seemed to be the entrance to a storm cellar. She took them inside and led them further until she heard Kiri's voice, then led them to a vent of some sort so that they could partially see what seemed to be the living room. Ales had made herself comfortable on the couch, while Kiri remained standing. "We can hear them," Sachi informed the others, "but they won't be able to hear us unless we yell." Canti looked like she was about to say something, but the sound of Kiri's voice, speaking again, hushed her as they all concentrated on listening.

"What is it you want?" Kiri asked, and Ales smiled, Shia could see it through the vent.

"I don't want anything, Kiri, just to say hello to an old friend," she said, "It's been some time since we worked together."

"People like us never do anything without a reason," Kiri said, eyes cold.

"Don't say that," Ales said, eyes sad, "You make it sound like we're doomed forever. People can change."

"People think they change," Kiri corrected her, "but under the surface they're always the same."

"How can you say that?" Ales asked, "I see the change in you, you talk more, you listen more. I almost think you're developing the ability to care." Kiri kept silent for a while after that, and the girls below took the opportunity to discuss what they had heard.

"I never realized Kiri thought like that," Shira said, thoughtfully. "I knew she thought… but this…"

"It's terrible," Sharr finished for her twin, the same thoughtful look of despair on her face.

"So," Cara said, reasoning out what they had heard, "Whatever it was Kiri did in the past, it must not be entirely over, because Ales, or whatever, thinks they can change."

"People… do change," Aine said quietly and Shia understood that the older girl beside her must have also gone through something similar in the past. Shia also understood that people didn't always change for the better.

"Alright, alright," Ales said, snapping the girls back to attention, "I know I argued, but I know as well as you do that we'll never be completely normal, or even anything that resembles it. That's why I'm here." Kiri looked her old partner and, yes, her friend in the eyes, waiting. "I'm going to America to star over." Kiri kept silent for a moment, then finally answered, keeping all emotion from her eyes and voice.

"Good luck," she said, but her voice was a bit quieter than usual and part of her confidence seemed to have slipped. It was easy for everyone watching, since they recognized her normal actions so well, to notice these slight changes and assume that they meant she had been caught off guard.

"And…" Ales said, "I want you to come with me." The girls, watching from the floor vent, froze. 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen... Alright, confession time... I wrote this the same day I posted chapter fourteen. I've never been able to wirte something so easily before, so I'm fairly happy with what I've done. I don't want to post this chapter in the same day, so I guess it'll have to wait until tomorrow... Sweatdrop. This is so sad...

I wanted to say, for those who get on my case about a _certain someone_ (Actually, several people, but only one will really matter to you POT fans.) is out of character in this chapter, but, hey, love changes people, they say.

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Kiri seemed frozen as well for a moment. Then regained her composure. She opened her mouth, then shut it again.

"You're right," Ales smiled, "People like us never do anything without a reason." She stood up. "You're restless, I know it." She held out her hand, "I've never stayed in one place for long. And I know for a fact that you hate being stuck here. What's it been… I'm sorry, I don't remember how many years it's been."

"Two years in Kyoto, eight years here in Tokyo," Kiri said.

"Eight years in one place? I know you're not enjoying it," she said, "Just look at you. Tennis? When did that begin?"

"Ten years ago."

Ales laughed, "Are you really that bored! There are so many other things you could be doing! If you're half as intelligent now as you were then, then you could be going to college, or inventing a better internet or something. Heck, you could find a way to own the internet!"

"I'm not bored," Kiri said, but Ales continued to smile.

"You don't sound very sure of yourself," Ales said, seeing the hesitation even those who watched had missed.

"I-" Kiri was cut off as someone came inside the door.

"Kiri," the voice proceeded it's owner as Hiroyuki, Kiri's older brother, entered the room. He raised an eyebrow at Ales, "Company?"

Kiri nodded, "Ales, this is Hiroyuki, my elder brother. Hiro, this is Ales my… friend."

"Ah, _ab tum?_ (From then?)" he asked and then smiled at the slightly shocked expressions on the two girls' faces. "What, you don't think I'd realize what my little sister was studying? You obviously don't know much about older brothers." Kiri smiled in that odd way of hers, and the girls watching were happy to see something familiar from their captain. Canti quickly translated for them again.

"_Ita,_ (Yes)" Kiri answered, but no one needed Canti's translation this time.

"So many interesting people today," Hiroyuki sighed, "That reminds me, you have another visitor." The girls watching through the vent all looked at each other. Everyone was there, and they hadn't even known where Kiri's house was before this anyway. They looked back up as Hiroyuki continued, "Yeah, Kunimitsu-kun is here." Ales raised an eyebrow at Kiri, but her face was straight and un read able.

Kunimitsu walked into the room, said hello and waited. Ales smiled, "It was nice seeing you again, Kiri, but I'd better go. You have a tournament tomorrow, right? Good luck!" She looked Kiri in the eyes, "_I velle pro tuus benign respondere tum._ (I will wish for your favorable answer then.) Bye!" She waved, nodded to Kunimitsu and Hiroyuki and then walked out. Hiroyuki close behind.

"I'm going to get my term paper done," he said, then looked to Kiri specifically, "Just yell if you need me." She nodded and he walked out. Kunimitsu looked like he might take a step forward, then thought better of it.

"I heard… you left immediately after practice with some strange person," he said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kiri said, shaking her head to clear it, "I'm just… nervous about the tournament tomorrow." Now Kunimitsu did take a step forward, lifting up ther chin so that she looked into his eyes.

"Don't lie to me. Hiroyuki-san and I were listening for a moment before he came in," Kunimitsu said, "I know everything. I always have." Kiri's face went blank, the way it always did when she was afraid to show emotions.

"How…?" Kiri asked.

"Hiroyuki-san told me sometime ago. He said that if I wanted to make you happy I would have to know, and except, everything about you. I do and have." He looked into her silver eyes, and smiled a small smile. Still, it was enough for Kiri and she smiled back in a way she hadn't for a long time. Kunimitsu moved even closer, lowering her face to hers, but she took a step backwards.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "We can't do that now… besides, we're being watched." Kunimitsu's smiled faded, but he had trouble keeping a littlehumor from his normally emotionless tone.

"And you suddenly think I care?" he asked, "I told you I've been here for a while; I saw them go in."

"Really?" Kiri smiled in her usual way, but the girls weren't relieved this time. They were dead scared, "Maybe we should invite them in?" Kunimitsu shrugged and Kiri bent down next to the vent. "Sachi, be a good girl and bring Raina, Christine, Cara, Aine, Shira, Sharr, Canti and Shia up here please." Each girl twitched as they heard her say their name and Sachi was on the verge oftrembling as she led them out into the open and then through the front door to the room Kiri was waiting in. She was sitting down now, Kunimitsu left standing alone in the same place he had been in before. If he was annoyed with their interruption, he didn't show it.

"Sit," Kiri said, motioning to the other couch and some chairs. "Oh, except Sachi, she should go to her room before 'You-know who' shows up and get s her in trouble." Sachi's eyes widened at the mention of her father and she dashed out of the room. Everything was silent for a moment.

"I'm… sorry, Kiri," Raina said, "It's just…"

"You never talk about yourself and…" Shira murmured.

"We were curious and…" Sharr muttered.

"We don't know anything about you, Kiri," Shia finished. Kiri smiled.

"You're one to talk, Shia," She said, but quietly, so none but Kunimitsu (who was obviously closest) could hear. "And you feel that you're all entitled to know?"

"In a word: yes," Canti said, "At least Raina, if no one else." Kiri kept silent for a moment and Kunimitsu put a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to tell them anything," he reminded her quietly.

"What does it matter anymore?" she asked. "It might be best to tell them the truth instead of letting their imaginations think something up."

"There's something worse then the truth?" the voice came from the doorway. They all turned to see a smiling Aiyoshi Yamatashi. "What's the occasion that we have so many visitors?" He thought for a moment, "In fact, the only visitor I've ever seen Kiri have is Kunimitsu-kun here, and he followed her home because she wouldn't take him. Hmm… I don't know, could something be up?" He smiled again, "Hello, Kunimitsu-kun, life been treating you well?"

"Quite, Yamatashi-san," Kunimitsu said, nodding.

"Is it story time, Kiri?" Aiyoshi asked and Kiri nodded. "Very well," he said, sitting down in his favorite arm chair, his face serious, "Why don't you begin?" Kiri did, telling her friends the condensed version of her childhood. Aiyoshi kept silent, but he was proud that Kiri felt she could now share what had been such a tight locked secret for so long. She finished by telling him what had happened that day. "Are you going to leave us, Kiri?" he asked, but she had no answer for him. He stood up, "I have to write a report about this, you know. I'll check in on you all later." He walked out, leaving Kiri alone to wrap up what she had begun.

"… You… were really a street kid?" Cara asked, finding it hard to take it all in. Kiri nodded, and the others put in their two cents. Anei was the only one to stay silent, but her face showed an emotion the other starters had never seen there before. Sadness.

"You…" she started, but paused for a long moment, "… You really don't remember, do you?"

"Raina," Cara whispered, "Can you hear that? Aine's talking again!" Raina frowned, but didn't respond, she was watching Kiri.

"I was hoping… You'd remember," Aine said, and then stood up, walking out.

"What.. Was that?" Cara asked, and Shia moved quickly out the door after Aine.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, not stopping even as she bowed and was out the door.

Aine didn't know at first what was forcing her to stop. It was almost as if two invisible hands had grabbed her shoulders to hold her back. She sighed, "Shia…"

"Correct," Shia said from behind her and Aine turned around slowly to face her kopai. "Tell me, Aine, what do you wish to have her remember?"

"Everything," Aine said, realizing as she did that she had said more today then she had in the last week.

"Oh?" Shia asked, "Like that you were in the same situation?"

"Hai," Aine said, "She doesn't remember."

"Why would she remember? She doesn't even know her given name," Shia said, "Why would she remember?"

"Because you don't forget things like this," Aine said after a moment, "You never forget family." Shia smiled sadly.

"Oh, but they do," She said, "They forget who you really are so easily." Before she knew it, she was crying. She hadn't meant to get emotional herself, she had only wanted to get Aine to talk. Aine was talking, as if she couldn't see Shia's tears. Shia felt thankful that the older girl was leaving her dignity intact.

"She was my little sister," Aine told her, "We were born exactly nine months apart, on the day. A side effect of our mother's profession, I'm afraid. We have different fathers, but both of us have the same eyes." Shia noticed for the first time that it was true, Aine's eyes were indeed the same silvery color as Kiri's. She wondered why no one had pointed this out before.

_Because the look behind them is normally so different,_ she thought.

Aine continued, "We always lived on the streets, but sometimes we got to stay in a hotel for the night, off of Mother's… pay checks… Then she died when I was a year old. That would make Kiri three months old, by the way. After that I cared for her on the streets and we got by on scraps a kitchen boy sat out for us each night. They were just big enough to feed us, but not so big that they attracted the older kids' attention. I think he was probably a street kid himself at one point." (Disclaimer: That last part was inspired by Bean's story in the book Shadow Puppets.)

"And then," Aine looked sad, "we got separated one day when Kiri had turned two. I found her again a year later, but she had changed so much and… I knew I couldn't approach her then, she had suffered to much because I wasn't there for her. For the next year and a half I watched out for her. I left food where I knew she would find it, and kept the major bullies away from whatever area she was in. Then I lost her again, and she nearly starved to death when those people found her. I heard she had gotten out, and I got myself out as well, but never though I would find her again.

"God must have smiled on me, because I met her again in the seventh grade, and she was playing tennis. I took up the sport then, and worked hard to be at her level so I had a reason to be near her, to talk to her. I looked out for her then, as well, but there was little that she needed me to do." She sighed, "I've never been one to talk much, and even if I was, I could never tell her. I wished though, I wished…" (Isn't it amazing how different people can be when they're saying things they've kept pent up for so long?)

"That she would remember you," Shia said, "My question, though, is how do you remember all of this?"

"I've always been intelligent, just like Kiri," She said, "However, my intelligence is more practical then Kiri's, so my memory is better than hers, but I don't think quite as quickly."

"Then you would know Kiri's real name?" Shia asked.

"I would," Aine confirmed.

"What is it?"

"Kiri Yamatashi," Aine said, and Shia sighed, "That is, and will always be, her true name."

"You know that's not what I meant!" Shia yelled, but couldn't help, but smile as she watch Aine walk away. Then she wondered if Kiri would ever know that she had an older sister out there, watching over her, waitingto pick her up if ever she should fall. _That almost sounds poetic,_ she laughed at herself, then headed home. She knew _her_ protector would be waiting.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen. Anyone still reading must be extremely patient! Haha, anyway, I've been really busy lately, and though I hate excuses, I'm going to tell you all why. 

A friend (Maileiko Tachibana) and I are creating an Role Play site based completely on Prince of Tennis! It isn't done yet, and will proabaly take another week of hard work, but I thought I'd tell everyone anyway. The address, for those who might be tempted to check it out, is http/timeofourlife. . No pressure though, look only if you want to, and I won't hold a grudge if you don't like it!

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"Well, goodbye Kiri," Cara said, standing up. Many others followed her motion, the silence from before had been so heavy, they were ready to get out of there. Soon, Raina was the only one left, with the exception of Kunimitsu, who still stood by the couch.

"I'm… Sorry, Kiri," she said, not looking her friend in the eyes, "I-I'll see you tomorrow at the tournament…" She turned to walk out, leaving Kiri and Kunimitsu in silence.

"Are you sure you haven't been careless?" Kunimitsu asked after a moment.

"Careless?" Kiri asked, "I know that I've been careless. Every instinct I have is screaming out against this, but I've already done the damage, and now I will have to deal with the clean up."

"Unless you leave," Kunimitsu said the thing on both of their minds. Kiri looked at him, her eyes soft, looking lost.

"What do I have if I stay?" She asked, "People that know what I am, and will think differently of me because of it. You've seen it, how they changed today." He couldn't stand the look in her eyes any longer. He stooped down to the couch and embraced her. She closed her eyes and let herself melt into him. How? How could he do this to her every time? How could he change her with a look or a touch, and make her do things she would normally avoid at all costs. How could he make her care?

"You have me," he said softly, "You'll always have me." She pushed away, her eyes looking hurt. How could he do this to her?

"No," she muttered, then spoke louder, "No. Don't lie to me. I know you're going to go to Germany for your arm!" He looked stunned. "I saw the papers in Ryuzaki's office!" His eyes softened and he tried to pull her close again. She pushed away. "No. I can't go through this with you again." Kunimitsu looked her straight in the eyes.

"What was it before, Kiri, what's so wrong?" he asked, a hand on each of her arms.

"I can't stand this," she said, "This feeling I get when I'm with you." Kunimitsu let his arms fall to his sides as he listened. "I.. change… and I can't act normally, all of my reasoning goes away and my survival skills diminish."

"Love changes people," Kunimitsu told her, "Don't you think I know that? I would never act like this normally, no more than you would." He sighed, he realized that she was used to relying on her survival skills everyday, and that feeling of them not being there must have been terrible for her, but didn't shesee that _she_ was hurting _him_ just as much?

"Love?" she asked, feeling like she was five years old again, watching Hiroyuki and Aiyoshi playing tennis through the fence again. "What's love?" Kunimitsu looked at her in despair, and then pulled her close, this time she didn't resist.

"You don't know what love is Kiri? How can you not know what love is?" he asked, "After all… You're the one that taught me all about it." he lifted her chin to look into her eyes, then lowered his face to hers for the kiss he had waited for for so long. She closed her eyes, a single tear falling down the side of her face, and returned the kiss with every bit of soul she had left.

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Shia was at the courts early the next day for the tournament. She hadn't waited for Ryoma to wake up, as she rarely did when she had something important going on. She hated having him think she didn't want him around, but she didn't feel that she could warm up if he was there with her. As she arrived she realized that she was deluding herself. She looked out at the open courts, noticing how they almost seemed alive without people, calling out for someone to play the ultimate match there. She felt the urge to chuckle at herself, and understood that these thoughts could only belong to a tennis player. That thought in her head, she ambled to the practice courts to warm up.

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"Shia's already warmed up," Cara murmured, and Raina couldn't tell if she was annoyed by this or if she was just relaying the message. Canti, of course, understood exactly what Shia was doing. She was using the time everyone else spent warming up to get a look at the competition. Canti noted, with some humor, that Kiri used to do something quite similar in her early days of playing. Kiri, however, didn't watch the tennis of the people warming up, she watched the people themselves. She didn't bother to find Shia and figure it out for sure, but she mused with the idea that she did the same thing.

_'Funny,'_ she thought, _'How all thoughts eventually lead back to Kiri.'_ She looked up to the sky, wondering how things would go when they all had to face Kiri today. Kiri had, not surprisingly, warmed up by herself and was watching the others as they warmed up themselves. _'No doubt wondering the same things I am,'_ Canti said. She brought her attention down to the courts as Shia made her way closer.

When Shia came near, her face was set, and she walked strait up to Canti. Canti Hikaru smiled warmly, her data eyes soft, yet still analyzing. "What did you find out, Shia?"

"It doesn't matter," Shia dismissed the topic immediately. "I actually wanted to ask you a question."

"Oh?"

"If half the things I've heard are true, then you have the potential to be a starter, no problems," she informed her, knowing all the while that she was only telling Canti what she already knew. "Something I learned today made me wonder why you don't become one." Canti smiled softly, telling Shia wordlessly that she wouldn't really understand.

"I love this game," Canti said, looking down on her kopai carefully, "It is true that I have the talent to play, but I chose not to. You want to know why?"

Shia nodded.

"I have been the manager on this team since the very end of my fifth grade year," she said, "even then, I only got this position because the captain was a little bit… out there…" She sighed, "To tell you the truth, Shia, I am not a starter, and don't plan to become one too soon, because I could never even come close to the best."

"That's petty."

Hikaru's smile clearly said 'I knew you wouldn't get it.' "I would rather be an excellent manger and data collector then a decent starter. I took the manager position because I really respected a certain player. I will not catch up to that player's level for several years, if ever. I'm not some one to overstrain myself." 'There it is again, the thoughts lead back to her…'

"Then they were right," Shia sighed.

"About what?"

"You don't have what it takes." Shia said simply and walked away. Canti smiled to herself.

_'That girl can make something of herself someday,'_ she thought, and then looked back down to her palm-pilot, writing a new strategy for number three singles.

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Cara knew how much relied on this match. With number two doubles having lost, her match was pressured, even if number one doubles had pulled through. Her hand was shaking halfway through the match, and she already knew that she was going to be in trouble if this didn't end soon.

Canti, analyzing as always, watched with growing horror at what she knew would be a problem. Cara's weak wrist was going to give.

_"Canti, where are we going?" Cara asked, looking the other seventh grader in the eyes._

_"You'll see," Canti said, whistling as she walked ahead of her friend. She was planning to show Cara a new music shop down the street, and she knew her teammate would be ecstatic. They crossed the street, and that was it happened._

_Paying little attention to what was going on around her, Canti didn't hear the car because of her excitement. Cara did though, and yelled, breaking Canti out of her thoughts. Canti ran and Cara was close behind, but she wasn't quick enough._

_Cara was tossed over the hood, and she fell down again to the hard asphalt. Canti rushed over to her, but it was a hit and run and she had trouble getting Cara to a doctor. When she did, they would be told by a fairly amazed doctor that Cara was actually in pretty good condition. She had hairline fracture in her leg, which would heal in a few weeks, and her right wrist was the worst of it, having been broken in three places. Still, the doctor had insisted, she would be fine with time and physical therapy. She was lucky to still be alive._

Watching now, Canti felt a bit guilty. It hadn't been entirely her fault, of course, but she did feel that she shared part of the blame.

_'I should have thought farther ahead,'_ Canti insisted, _'I knew they had good doubles teams, I should have fielded Shia or Christine…'_ Of course, she knew that she couldn't have guessed that Cara's match would last long enough for her wrist to be effected. After all, she had been doing so well lately.

Cara knew right before it happened that her wrist was about to give out. She prepared herself, so she didn't scream, and the ball she had been returning spun out. She did, however, take a step backwards and drop her racket. That was enough to alert Raina and Canti, the only people who knew she was actually still in therapy (Though it was only from time to time now.) Canti jumped the small fence that separated her from the courts. She ran out onto the courts to Cara's side, not caring that most people didn't realize they were friends.

"Are you alright?" she asked, and Cara nodded, then shook her head.

"I blew it," she laughed, but the usual humor was gone from it.

"I'm sorry," Canti said, looking Cara in the eyes sadly. "This is all my fault."

"No," Cara insisted, "I should have done better, or perhaps I should have forfeited before I let this happen." She turned to the judge. "Seishun forfeits the match, I am unable to play." The judge nodded and Cara walked off the courts after picking up her racket with her left hand.

"Cara!" Raina met her immediately at the gate. "Are you alright? I knew that long match was going to be a problem!" Raina realized as she said the words that her stress wouldn't help and she calmed herself. "Canti, would you take her to the hospital?"

"Of course," Canti nodded, regaining her usual composure as well. Cara forced a smile at the data-girl and they headed off. Cara suddenly stopped and turned back to her teammates. Searching her out, she looked Shia straight in the eyes.

"Hey, Shia!" she hollered, easily getting her attention, "Make your next match one to remember!" She smiled, nodded, and then followed through, winning her match 6-0.

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The tension on the courts was easily noticed as Kiri went on with her match. The game was going well enough, Kiri not having much trouble, but everyone could feel that something was wrong.

Not a single starter was cheering on their captain. The crowd from Seishun could feel it, and their cheers didn't seem as hearty as usual. Actually, most of the girls sitting on the bench weren't really even watching the match too much. Raina was keeping herself busy with a small stain on the front of her jacket, Christine was absentmindedly muttering in English and watching the crowds, and even Sharr and Shira kept fidgeting, obviously having a private, mental conversation. Shia was watching the match, but her eyes were blank and her mind was obviously elsewhere. Aine watched the match as well, and her thoughts seemed to center on Kiri, but something was wrong with the expression she had on her face. The fact that she had an expression was odd enough. Cara and Canti's had returned, but both were whispering quietly to each other as Canti re-inspected Cara's wrist.

Kiri felt their thoughts bombarding her, and knew that she had been right; there was no chance they would ever treat her the same as before. The little bit of trouble she was having was caused by nerves, worrying about their reactions. She could feel the stress even more when she saw Ales arrive, standing not far from the starters, behind the fence.

"GO KIRI!" Aine suddenly yelled, and several surprised fans, and starters, were silent for a moment before joining in on the cheers.

"You can do it Kiri!" Raina hollered.

"Make it one for the books!" Cara roared.

"Down in history! Down in history!" the twins chanted together.

"Go Kiri!" Canti howled, watching her roll model happily.

"Give you're opponent a taste of real talent!" Christine bellowed.

"Show everyone what it means to be Kiri Yamatashi!" Shia finally yelled, "Show the world!" Rejuvenated, Kiri smiled at her teammates. At her friends.

After that, Kiri never lost a point.


	17. Chapter 17

Well, the story is almost over. The next chapter will probably be the last. It will definately be longer than this one anyways. Well, I can't think of anything else to say, so bye for now.

Disclaimer- I do not own Prince of Tennis

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"You're decision?" Ales asked, walking up to Kiri after the match. Kiri stood still for a moment, as if frozen in time. Then she closed her silvery eyes and seemed to go into deep thought.

"You're right, Ales," Kiri said, not bothering to open her eyes, "I am restless, but I've found something here that I never could on the move." She continued, "I close my eyes and I see the faces of people, of Father, Hiroyuki, Sachi, all of these people here, and…" She paused, as if waiting for something. It was immediately clear what she had stopped for, as Kunimitsu rushed up, breathing a little bit heavier than normal, with sweat on his brow. He had obviously ran the whole way there from his own practice at Seishun. "Kunimitsu Tezuka. All of the people I care about. It seems I can care, Ales, and I can _love_ as well." She knew he was there behind her before he slipped his arms around her, and reached a hand up to caress his face. He lowered his cheek to her hair and closed his eyes. Kiri was ever aware of the whispers all around them, but she didn't push away.

"I can see something here that I could never see on the move," Kiri continued, "I see people, not just human beings, but true people. People hurt and get hurt themselves, they cry, they love, they hate, they fear. It's their _humanity_, and I could never see it before. I hope you see it too, someday. Good luck in America." Ales looked to the ground, her eyes over shadowed, and her shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry, Kiri," she said, "I'll never be able to repay my debt, will I?" Kiri kept silent, so Ales continued, looking up with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I owe you my life, Kiri! That day…" Kiri winced, and the action took the others by surprise.

"I don't want to hear about that," she said, "If you want to repay your debt, use the life I saved and _do something _with it." She smiled her odd smile, "I suggest _tennis, _it's great for when you're _bored_." Ales wiped her eyes and began to laugh.

"Maybe I will at that!" she chuckled, then looked Kiri in the eyes, "And then someday, old friend, we'll play each other."

"I'll beat you then," Kiri said and Ales laughed again before they clasped hands and said their final goodbyes.

"Birds are meant to migrate," Aine mumbled, "It's the cat that will eventually find a place to call home." (Author's note- Ales is Latin for bird.) She began to walk away. Shia's eyes widened.

"That was a hint, wasn't it?" she asked. _'A hint about Kiri's name!'_ she thought, but Aine laughed a short, soft laugh and continued on. "AINEEEE!"

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"It's about time I had an appearance in this story…" Ryoma muttered and Shia looked confused.

"Did you say something?" she asked and Ryoma shook his head. She sighed with a smile. They had won their tournament and she felt pretty good. They were on their way to school, heading out earlier than normal.

Ryoma sighed as he glanced over at Shia again. He couldn't explain it, but she looked different today, more mature. _'Probably just because she hasn't done anything too strange yet today,' _he thought, and smiled slightly, looking away.

"… Ryoma?" Shia asked, he turned to once more, and she continued. "You know the tournament you have next week? Won't Ashi-san be playing in it as well?"  
Ryoma looked away as he sighed again. Why did she always seem to be thinking about Ashi?

"… Yes," Ryoma said after a moment, "Yes, he'll be playing in it. We play him in the first round." He sped up a bit, and she hurried to match his pace. "Why?"

"No reason," Shia said, "I was just curious." _'I'm worried, but I can't tell him that…' _Shia thought, with a mental sigh.

Ryoma was really starting to get annoyed about her obsession with Ashi. _'If she likes him that much, why doesn't she go bother him with questions?' _He thought, but he knew her asking questions wasn't the problem. _'Again, with the jealousy…' _Ryoma sighed to himself as they continued to school.

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"Shia," the woman smiled, and Shia was compelled to return the gesture. She didn't however, self-control reminding her that this was serious. The woman continued, not seeming upset by Shia's failure to respond, "We would love to take you in. Well," the fair, brown haired woman cast a loving glance at her husband, "We've always wanted a girl…" Shia was smiling now, all restrain having jumped out the window. She was crying too. These people… they had been told about her, and had seen what she could do… And they accepted her. She cried, tears of joy ran down the woman's face as well as she held her close. The man watched with a quiet smile, clearly glad to see the woman he loved so overwhelmed with happiness.

"Family…" Shia whispered, and the word seemed to hold new meaning. No more secrets and hatred were bound to that word, as she had been to them. "We're a… Family?"

"I'm you're father now," the man smiled, lifting Shia's chin as she and her new mother parted. "And she is your mother. We care for you, Shia, so we must be a family." New tears stained her face. _'We care for you, Shia.' _She repeated it over and over in her mind, sitting there in the Echizen's living room, not sure she had ever been happier.

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"One last game of tennis… Before you go?" Ryoma asked, the day Shia was supposed to move.

"You're supposed to rest up for the tournament tomorrow," Shia lectured, but she was smiling. "I didn't pack my racket yet though, and it would be a waste to pass up a challenge from the _great _Ryoma Echizen." She put great emphasis on the word 'great', hinting to her sarcasm. Ryoma smirked as she ran up the stairs to get her racket.

On the courts, Shia took the first serve. Throwing the ball up into the air, she hit her favored Devil's Serve. Ryoma scowled as the ball went over his head, landing in. She taunted him with it the full first game, and when Ryoma finally got his serve, he was ready to return the favor.

Throwing the ball into the air, he twisted his arm into the strange position, as he had seen Shia do so many times. Swinging back, he came forward to hit the ball, and realized too late just what kind of strain this put on people's arms. He doubled over, clutching his left arm in pain. A surprised Shia yelped, then ran over to his side calling for help. When Nanjiro finally came, she seemed to be in shock.

_'This is all my fault,' _she thought, _'All my fault…'_


	18. Chapter 18

LAST CHAPTER!! Yeah, it's really long this time, so I should have probably posted it as two separate chapters, but so much important stuff happens and it all ties together, so I wouldn't have known where to cut it off! Thank to everyone who stuck with me to the end!

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Ryoma had been surprisingly quiet all day. As Eiji glanced down the bench at his kopai, he wondered about asking whether he was alright. When he did, the only answer he got was a nod. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

_'Maybe he's just concentrating on the match…' _Eiji said, and tried to convince himself that he was right. Oishi nudged him, and he glanced over at his partner. Oishi cast a worried glance at Ryoma and then made a questioning face at Eiji, who had to shrug. He then turned to relay the message to Momo, who had nothing to say either. A few more curious glances went around the starters' bench before Eiji reluctantly stood up with Oishi, heading out to play in number one singles as the victorious number two's took the bench. Ryoma never said a word during the doubles match, where Eiji and Oishi pulled through, like always.

The announcer's voice rang out as he called for Ryoma and Ashi to approach the net. Ryoma made the customary handshake as brief as possible. Something seemed to click in Ashi's mind, and he turned to the judge.

"Sir, this--" he was cut off by another voice, booming from across the courts.

"SHIA!!" Ryoma tensed on the courts as he looked out at the mirror image of himself, standing just outside the fence. A slight, nervous smile found it's way to 'Ryoma's' face as his double glared through the fence at him.

"Wha--?" Momo started, but his question was answered as a strong stream of water hit Ryoma (the one on the court. How confusing…), knocking him over. Dark hair dye ran in the fake's eyes, making them rub their eyes furiously, unconsciously removing the color contacts. Blonde hair and blue eyes were revealed as Shia looked up angrily at the people who had dowsed her with water.

The twins snickered and slapped a quick high five as Christine whistled.

"I didn't think she'd go so far," she said, sounding impressed, "She chopped her hair short even. Good thing for us Kiri was right about it being wash out dye."

"She's even wearing color contacts and a vest," Cara nodded, "She really did go all out, didn't she?" Raina shook her head, her face clearly asking why she had been stuck with such 'out-there' teammates.

"Shia," Kiri's voice was calm, "You really shouldn't pull stunts like this, you could have gotten Seishun disqualified." Shia didn't say anything, but stood up defiantly, not looking her teammates. Ryoma entered the courts, placing a hand on Shia's shoulder. She winced as she saw the light arm brace he was forced to wear on his left arm.

"Shia," he said softly, "It's fine. Everything will be fine. You shouldn't have worried." He fought the urge to add 'you also shouldn't have locked me in a closet', and waited until she acknowledged hearing him with a nod. "I'm fine. This," he lifted his left arm to make the point, "is nothing. I'm fine. I'll play right handed today." How strange it felt to be talking to her like this in front of so many people. After a moment, reluctantly, Shia nodded her head again, handed Ryoma his racket, and moved off of the courts and beyond the fence to watch with her friends.

The judge seemed confused about what to do, "I really should disqualify Seishun Gakuen still, but…"

"The girl never even touched a ball," Ashi reasoned, "It seems harsh to me to punish the Seishun team for something they obviously knew nothing about, especially when other members of Seishun went to such great lengths to keep her from playing." The judge seemed to consider it.

"Well…" he said, but Ashi was boring wholes into him with a glare-smile.

"Besides, this is a match of the century as far as middle school tennis goes. And I can't even tell you how I have looked forward to this," Ashi said, his voice hard. The judge suddenly seemed a bit airy, and he nodded.

"Of course…" he muttered, his eyes a little glazed over. He shook his head, "Then the match will begin." Ashi smiled and caught the ball for his serve.

"You're a lucky one, Ryoma," Ashi said lightly, "I was about to report her when you showed up."

"How did you know it was her?" Ryoma asked. His own teammates had been fooled, after all.

"Her hands," Ashi said, somewhat nostalgic, "I could never mistake her hands for yours."

"And how did you know her hands so well?" Ryoma asked, stalling as Ashi was when he continued to bounce the ball.

"Of course I remember her hands, and everything else about her," Ashi answered, tossing the ball into the air over his head, "She's my sister." He hit the ball with all of his might, Ryoma fought the shock as he returned it.

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"You can hear them, can't you?" Kiri whispered through the fence behind Kunimitsu.

"Yes," Kunimitsu answered quietly. He knew Kiri's ears were sharp, but figured she was reading their thoughts as well.

"Did you figure it out before?"

"No, but you knew."

"Yes."

"How long ago?"

"The beginning. Shia thought about him occasionally. When we meet him though, it confirmed it."

"And you decided not to let the rest of us in on it."

Kiri's eyebrow raised, "When do I ever share the secrets of others?"

Kunimitsu nearly smiled, "Never."

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"Do you want to know about it?" Ashi asked as he returned the ball, "How we grew up, I mean?"

Ryoma grunted slightly as he hit the ball back.

"Yes?" Ashi shrugged, "alright, listen closely while you lose." Ashi's smile seemed twisted and Shia shuddered from the sidelines, Aine putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "We grew up in Germany, with both our mother and our father. Our father was German, our mother of Japanese descent. Did you meet her? No, I doubt Shia would let you. Anyway, things were mostly happy back then." Ryoma's mind was racing, but he kept his body moving as well. The clues had been there, all along…

_'Every once and a while… Wouldn't she say 'Nien'? And she seemed so annoyed that time Shira mistook French for German…' _He was snapped back to reality, realizing Ashi was continuing.

"Shia was being beaten, even back then, but not nearly as often or as badly as she has been in the last few years. Not that I've been around to really know. Maybe we should ask Shia herself?" Shia was sniffling from where she watched, and Ashi laughed, "Somewhere along the line, I taught her the Devil's Serve. It put too much strain on my arm, like it obviously did to yours, but Shia's so used to pain, her bone structure seems to be able to tolerate it. It doesn't really hurt her, you see, not right now anyway. Someday, her arm will probably just shatter, when it reaches it's limits, then it will probably be beyond repair. In fact, it could happen any day now."

"You knew that when you taught her."

"Of course."

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"Shia," Aine whispered, peering at the freshman with a look of sympathy, "Shia." She was shaking violently now, staring at Ryoma and her brother, knowing her last secret could be revealed at any moment. She was so afraid of that, of Ryoma finding out about _that _and never forgiving her. She didn't actually hear Aine calling her name, ever so softly, over and over, or feel her fingers run through her hair, trying to calm her.

"I can't really hear what they're talking about," Cara sighed and the twins nodded that they couldn't really either. Christine's face remained straight, but they could tell she could hear the conversation well enough to be concerned.

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"Do you know real the problem with Shia?" Ashi asked, "Do you know what bothers me most about her?" Ryoma didn't respond, but moved to return the ball Ashi had just sent flying at him. Ashi took it as a 'no', "Well, you see, Shia doesn't care what happens to her, physically or mentally." Ashi smiled, but his eyes didn't close in the happy way they had every time before, "That's way I'm going to use you." Ashi smiled wickedly, "You're my ticket to revenge."

Ryoma wondered for a moment why the judge didn't say anything about the threats Ashi was making, with a glance in that direction, he realized that the judge didn't seem to be hearing anything at all. His face seemed blank, he was watching the tennis as closely as ever, but there was no evidence that he was hearing their disturbing conversation. The blasé look on his face was bothering Ryoma. Ashi seemed to notice what Ryoma was doing and grinned again.

"Do you like that? I'm a little proud of my own abilities, controlling people, you know." Ashi laughed, and it wasn't a pleasant sound, "Almost everyone here has no idea that I'm even talking! All they hear is the tennis…!" To make his point, he made an extremely fast return to the left corner and Ryoma missed it.

"Game- Kakinokizaka East, one game to love!" The judge yelled out and Ryoma nearly missed the ball that was thrown to him for his serve.

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"Nyah! This is bad!" Eiji whined, looking at the game in distain. "Ochibi is getting worked up!" Looking out on the courts, Oishi could see that this was true. Ryoma was getting angry and upset over whatever Ashi kept saying. Oishi couldn't understand why Ryoma, ever 'Mr. Cool', was loosing it now, over those whispered words. He saw that Shia was crying behind the fencing, not too far away, and he sighed. Ashi was exploiting a young boy in love.

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Ryoma knew he was losing it, of course, but wasn't sure what he could do about it. The things he was hearing him disturbed him. Ashi had powers, but he despised Shia for hers? Or was there a deeper meaning?

"Of course," Ashi was saying now, "I didn't hate her early on. We were both young… She seemed to be a good kid. We played a lot of tennis together; not that she ever beat me." He sighed, "It wasn't until _then _that I understood her true nature."

"Then?" Ryoma asked quietly, returning the ball. Ashi smiled wickedly, slamming the ball past Ryoma.

"Then."

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_'No, oh no…' _Shia trembled under Aine's fingers, gripping her shoulders, holding her softly, but firmly. _'He's going to tell him… He's going to tell him about That Time…' _Her eyes were wide with disbelief. _'What's happened to you Ayashi? What happened to the Aya-chan I grew up with? I knew you blamed me for That, but…' _She didn't understand. "Aya-chan…" she whispered, but no one heard it , and it was swept away by the winds.

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"I was six, Shia was five," Ashi's voice was nostalgic. "It was a rainy day, I remember that well, because none of it might have happened without that rain." He hit a vicious return, "Shia wanted to go to the movies quite badly, you see. However, our car was being fixed, and our father wanted to go on a day it would be nice enough to walk. Shia didn't care about the rain; she wanted to go. So did I, naturally, but it was Shia who continued to press. She began to throw a tantrum. She lost control of her own power, or perhaps she relaxed her control on purpose, I don't know, but things began to break. Eventually, our parents gave in, just to make her stop.

"We went to the movies, walking in the rain. I don't remember any more what we saw, but it doesn't matter, does it? It was on the way home that everything happened. It was all Shia's fault. Shia and the rain." Ashi sent his little sister a glare where she watched, crying through the fence. "Selfish…" he muttered, then returned his attention to Ryoma, "Shia was walking closest to the street, in the beginning. I offered to take her place, because she kept getting splashed when cars went by. Our father shut down that proposal, and took the place himself, though he told me I had been noble. That's why, you see, it was her fault. It was all her fault that the truck hit him, and we had to see our own father die in those streets. Hers! She was the one who made them take us! She was the one he wanted to protect so badly! I want her to suffer just as much as he suffered in death, and as much as I've suffered in life!" Ashi hit a return that was blurred because of it's speed.

The ball almost immediately came back, whistled past Ashi's ear, and landed in. Ryoma glared at the older boy. "You're petty." Ashi clenched his fists. "You're blaming Shia, when it wasn't her fault at all. How could she know that wanting to go to the movies would lead to the death of her father? How could she prevent him from protecting her from the water? Do you think she summoned the truck at him? No. You say that you know Shia, but you know nothing!" Ashi smirked, his eyes narrowing.

"You think you have it all figured out? Perhaps she did call that truck over with her power. I don't know for sure, after all; I'm not Shia, and I can't read minds," he shook his head, "I do know, however, that if she hadn't acted so selfishly in the first place, none of it would have happened. She's selfish like no one else. You haven't even seen it yet… You are hoping even now that she loves you. You want to tell her how you feel too, but I'll save you that embarrassment. Shia loves no one but herself."

"That's not true!" Shia yelled, salty tears finding their way into her mouth as they fell down her face, "I love you, Aya-chan! Aya-chan…!" She sobbed, sinking onto her knees. "Aya-chan… I love… you… I want you… to forgive me… so badly… but… How can I even ask for something… like that?" Her eyes sank to the ground, she couldn't look at her brother any longer, she was too ashamed. By the looks her teammates were sending her, she realized that Ayashi hadn't been shielding her from their sight or from their hearing. She didn't care anymore. "Aya-chan… I do love people. Much more than I love myself! I often hate myself, but I love You… and Ryoma-kun too!" Ayashi stopped, looking at the young girl with wide eyes.

"How… can you say that? After all I've done to you?" he asked, and the judge didn't seem to notice that the tennis had stopped. He was still under Ashi's spell. The brown haired boy took a step towards the fence. "I blamed you for that… Even though… As he died… He told me not to. He told me to protect you…" Ayashi laughed bitterly, "It would seem I've messed everything up." He turned to the referee, who seemed to be waking up from a dream, "I concede. This match is over." Ayashi continued off of the courts, grabbing his tennis bag, while ignoring the angry outbursts of his teammates. He slung the bag over his shoulder, his eyes lowered to the ground as he walked out. Shia met him at the gate, her arms around him.

"Don't leave me, Aya-chan, come live with me and my new family," She looked at his face as he avoided her eyes. He shook her arms off.

"You're a fool, Shia," He said, starting to walk away. "I thought that after all you'd been through, you'd know what kind of people to stay away from. If you hadn't noticed, the kind that try to ruin your lives and your arm are probably not good people."

"But you are," She argued, "You didn't go through with it after all."

"You're naïve."

"You're a coward," Ryoma said, "You're running away from the problems you caused. If you're really sorry, you'd stay behind to help with the cleanup and repent."

"Who says I'm sorry?" Ayashi asked, but the silence that followed and Ryoma's subservient smirk seemed to answer it for him. Ayashi finally sighed, "… If they'll have me… and if you and Ryoma really don't hate me all that much… I'll stay. I'll do what was asked of me before and protect you." He looked up with a wary smile, "Though there seems to be someone else who does that well enough already."

"Shia?" She turned to see the eloquent figure of her new mother, as she had been the one speaking. "Who is this person, Shia?"

"I'm Ayashi Seikaku, originally named Ayashi Raiku," Ayashi introduced himself, with a small, but polite bow.

"Oh!" The woman's hands went up to cover her mouth. "I'm Rena Shimari, my husband and I have adopted Shia. She told me something about you once! Well, not precisely, but she did tell me that she had a brother! So you're the famous boy she spoke so fondly of?"

"Fondly?" Ayashi chuckled, "Strange… But it's nice to meet you, Shimari-san. Thank you for taking care of my sister."

"No problem at all! And you have no idea how happy I am to meet _you_!" She seemed ecstatic.

"Why?"

"I've had an entire company of child-social workers trying to find a thirteen or fourteen year old youth with the last name 'Raiku'," She smiled, "You changed your name; now it makes more sense why it was taking so long! You'll stay with us, won't you?" Ayashi was too stunned to speak. "I told my husband that we needed to find this brother that Shia loved so much, if we wanted her to be happy. He looked me in the eyes all serious like and said 'Why don't you just adopt him too?' And so I tried to find you! Such a coincidence, no?" Ayashi almost laughed at this woman's bubbly personality, which reminded him so of the young girl beside him.

"Who am I to say no anymore?" He smiled, and let Rena Shimari drag him away to call a social worker to get the official papers.

"There," Ryoma whispered, "Now she has everything she ever wanted." Shia tugged on his sleeve, having heard him talking to himself.

"Not everything," She informed him, and leaned in for a kiss. Ryoma blushed furiously, but didn't push her away. She finally moved backwards, smiling. "And everything should go well from now on!" Ryoma smiled, then took her hand as they tried to run away from the teasing upperclassman who had been watching the whole charade. Shia laughed again and felt that she had never been happier. She thought to herself, _'And so, the Prince of Tennis and the Princess of Lies lived Happily Ever After.' _

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The End!

Special thanks to-

All of my friends, who supported me during that time of writer's block. (I'm sure I got on your nerves!)

My family, who resisted that strong urge to kill me every time I stole the computer for hours to end up with only one sentence typed. (Yeah, I got on your nerves too, huh?)

And finally, last but never least, to my readers, who stuck with me too the end, even when it took me forever to get a chapter out.

Thank you all so much!!


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